Carlos Zenon Balderas Jr. (born August 24, 1996) is an American boxer who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Personal life Balderas was born on June 24, 1996, in Lompoc, California. He was the first member of his family to be born in the United States; his grandfather first came to California, leaving his wife and children behind in Oaxaca, Mexico, to work in strawberry fields, eventually earning the money to move the rest of the family to the United States. Whilst growing up in Santa Maria, California, Balderas was first taken to a boxing gym as a punishment for fighting in the streets with his friends and getting suspended from school. His older brother Jose is also a boxer.
Career Balderas is coached by his father Zenon and his uncle David.
In December 2014, Balderas won the lightweight division of the US National Team Trials, qualifying him for the 2015 Pan American Games held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he received a first round bye and was defeated in the quarterfinals by Lindolfo Delgado of Mexico. Balderas represented the USA Knockouts in the World Series of Boxing (WSB). In 2015 he took part in five bouts, defeating Fabio Introvaia of Italy, Dawid Michelus of Poland, Brian Nunez of Argentina and Adrian Javier Martinez Morales of Puerto Rico but losing to Azerbaijan's Albert Selimov. In 2016 he won his first two bouts against Lindolfo Delgado and Moroccan Hamza Rabii.
He qualified for the men's lightweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro Brazil via his results in the WSB where he won the gold medal in his elite division and was named Outstanding Boxer of the event. Balderas was given his Olympic allocation by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) after two of the athletes ahead of him in the final WSB rankings instead qualified for the Olympics through the 2015 World Championships. Balderas won his first two Olympic matches but lost in the quarterfinals to Cuban finalist Lázaro Álvarez. On April 9, 2017, he won his pro debut by first-round TKO.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes15Win14-1 Esteban Sanchez TKO8 (8), Nov 12, 2022 14Win13–1 Ruben CerveraUD6May 21, 2022 13Win12–1 Aelio MesquitaKO2 (6), Mar 4, 2022 12Win11–1 Julio CortezTKO4 (6), Nov 20, 2021 11Win10–1 Fidel CervantesTKO2 (6), Aug 14, 2021 10Loss9–1 Rene Tellez GironKO6 (8), 21 Dec 2019 9Win9–0 Robert FrankelTKO7 (8), 13 Jul 2019 8Win8–0 Luis MayKO4 (8), 20 Apr 2019 7Win7–0 Jose Cen TorresRTD3 (6), 16 Feb 2019 6Win6–0 Giovanni CaroKO4 (6), 28 Jul 2018 5Win5–0 Alex SilvaKO1 (6), 9 Jun 2018 4Win4–0 Jorge Rojas Zacazontetl UD417 Feb 2018 3Win3–0 Carlos FloresKO1 (8), 15 Dec 2017 2Win2–0 Eder Amaro FajardoKO1 (6), 30 Jul 2017 1Win1–0 Thomas SmithRTD1 (6), 9 Apr 2017
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