Category: Active Fighters

These are exciting times if you are a boxing fan living in or near Kansas City. There are multiple promoters working regularly in the city now for the first time in years and the most promising wave of talented fighters we’ve seen in decades. Many of these fighters have fights scheduled in the city in the next 30 days and some of them are fighting outside the area on nationally televised shows. Here’s who we think you should be paying attention to, and where to watch them.

Marco Romero 15-0(13 KO) – Super Middleweight

Olathe based Romero had a stellar amateur career with a reported record of 140-5. He hasn’t lost a boxing match since he was 13 years old. He was the 2024 National Golden Gloves champion at 165 pounds and turned pro later that year, quickly racking up 15 wins in the super middleweight division. Still just 20 years old, Romero hasn’t lost a single one of his 32 professional rounds. His team has done an excellent job preparing him for the highest levels of boxing, he’s spent time in Marc Ramsay’s camp in Montreal and in Tampa, sparring with Radivoje Kaladzic.

Romero was weighing offers from several major promoters over the summer, ultimately signing with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC). He made his Las Vegas debut on August 22, fighting on the preliminary undercard of the Teofimo Lopez-Rolly Romero pay per view. His stalking, come forward style drew comparisons to Vergil Ortiz by commentator Cory Erdman in his first round destruction of Kahlil Mitchell.

Romero is the first bona fide blue chip prospect from Kansas City in decades. His fan friendly style should help him land televised fights on big cards for PBC. One of Romero’s stated goals is to bring a world title fight to Kansas City, but it may be some time before we get to see him on a local show again.


Jorge Carlos 13-0(11 KO) – Super Lightweight

Carlos, another Olathe product, won more than 170 amateur fights and made it to the flyweight final as a member of the 2017 Golden Glove National championship team from Kansas City. He was reportedly one fight away from representing Mexico in the 2020 Olympics. He turned professional in 2022 at the age of 22 and has won every round of his 13 fight career. He fought on a Probox show early in his career and on an MVP undercard on DAZN in 2024. He will headline a big show at Memorial Hall on October 10th in his next outing as he continues to climb the rankings.

Malachi Ross 6-0(5 KO) – Super Welterweight

Hailing from Grandview, Ross had an extensive amateur career of more than 100 fights, beginning when he was as young as 11 years old. He turned professional in 2025 at the age of 19. His style translates well to the pro game and he quickly caught the eye of Daniel Rubin from Probox Promotions and has been fighting under their banner for his last two fights, against Derrick Whitley and Semajay Thomas. Probox has an established track record of guiding young fighters from the early stages of their careers and producing contenders, so Ross is in good hands. So far Ross has appeared on undercards that could be viewed on Youtube free of charge, but he may eventually graduate to championship level cards for the affordable Probox monthly subscription of $4.99.


Kevin Soltero 8-0(4 KO) – Bantamweight

Kansas City based Soltero had a 51 fight amateur career and turned pro early at 18 years old in 2024. A year later he took a big risk and agreed to face Andrew Rodriguez on his home turf on just two and a half weeks notice on a Probox show. The gamble paid off as his pressure style was too much for Rodriguez. He has followed that performance up with four more victories and will headline at Memorial Hall for the first time on September 19 against Carlos Buitrago, a 59 fight veteran and four time world title challenger, in Soltero’s first 10 round fight.


Wilver Hernandez 9-1(3 KO) – Bantamweight

Hernandez, 24 years old and based in Kansas City, had an extensive amateur career that included wins over current blue chip prospects Floyd Schofield and Tito Mercado. He turned pro in 2021 and won his first eight outings behind a fan friendly pressure style. In June 2024, he traveled to Miami for a big step up fight against undefeated Nicaraguan Winston Guerrero. He came out on the losing end of a competitive decision but acquitted himself well against a fighter who challenged for an interim world title just six months later. Hernandez was inactive for nearly two years, but came back with a dominant win here in Kansas City in May. Hernandez may be more advanced in his career than most fighters on this list, as Guerrero is a higher level opponent than anyone else has faced.


Marcell Davidson 9-0(6 KO) – Welterweight

At 29 years old, Davidson is the oldest fighter on this list. He had a long and successful amateur career, facing some of the biggest names in boxing today: Keyshawn Davis, Vergil Ortiz, Richardson Hitchins, Tiger Johnson. He won a silver medal in the super lightweight division as a part of the 2017 National Golden Gloves championship team from Kansas City, and was the 2019 National Golden Gloves super lightweight champion. Davidson, from Kansas City, turned professional in 2022 at the age of 25 and quickly won his first five fights over the next year. He spent most of 2023-2024 fighting for Team Boxing League, gaining valuable experience in one round fights against higher level opponents than he had been facing. You can see most of those fights on his profile page. Since hooking up with KC Boxing Promotions in 2025, Davidson has stayed busy and won four fights. His rangy southpaw style is much more suited to longer professional fights than the one round Team Boxing League format, and he’s a tough puzzle to solve. He will next appear on the September 19 Memorial Hall show.


Izak Carlos 8-0(6 KO) – Super Featherweight

Olathe native Izak is the younger brother of Jorge Carlos. He won a silver medal at the 2023 National Golden Gloves in the lightweight division and turned pro in 2024 following a successful amateur career of around 100 fights. Carlos has stayed busy, racking up eight victories in his first two years of fighting. He will next headline a September 26th show at BluHawk Event Center, promoted by Blue Corner.


Yahir Calderon 8-0-1(5 KO) – Bantamweight

Calderon, 23 years old, fights out of Kansas City. He turned pro in 2022 following a lengthy amateur career where he fought many of the top amateurs in America including Richard Fernandez Jr, Floyd Diaz, and Julius Ballo. Calderon has taken a little different path than many local fighters to gain experience and traveled to Mexico for four of his pro fights. He will next appear on the September 26th show at BluHawk Event Center.


Natalia Castaneda 5-0(1 KO) – Bantamweight

Castaneda, daughter of 2000’s Kansas City welterweight Donovan Castaneda, turned professional in 2024 at the age of 20 after a 40 fight amater career. Along with her undefeated professional record, she’s had a very successful run in Team Boxing League over the last two years, finishing 2026 17th out of 78 female boxers in net points. She’ll next fight on the November 21st show at the Scottish Rite Temple, in her first 6 round professional bout.


Melisenda Perez 11-7-1(4 KO) – Welterweight

Kansas City’s Perez retired in 2014 after a career that saw her twice challenge Hanna Gabriels for a word title in 2011. She returned to the ring in 2025 at the age of 35 and has run off three straight wins. We currently rank her as the 4th best female fighter in Kansas City history. She’ll return to the ring on the September 19th show at Memorial Hall.


Bonus fighter now based in California


Eric Priest 16-0-1(8 KO) – Middleweight

Priest, originally from Overland Park, is the most accomplished professional on this list. He was on the 2017 Golden Gloves National Championship team from Kansas City and had more than 60 amateur fights. He moved to California and turned pro in 2020. He began training at the Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles under Justin Fortune and his 3rd professional fight was nationally televised on a Ring City USA show. He subsequently had several fights under Tom Loeffler’s 360 banner before ultimately being signed by Golden Boy Promotions in 2023. He is now being trained by Julian Chua at Brickhouse Boxing Club. He’s gone 7-0-1 since signing with Golden Boy, most of which have been 10 round fights. Most observers of his fight with Esneiker Correa felt like Priest deserved the decision. Priest doesn’t currently have a fight scheduled but he will likely appear on DAZN in his next fight.

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