 On May 7, 1978, he won the WBA World super bantamweight title with a TKO over Hong Soo-hwan in Seoul, South Korea becoming Colombia’s third boxing champion, following Antonio Cervantes and Rodrigo Valdez.He successfully defended the title five times before losing to Leo Randolph in 1980.Cardona fought for four more years, going 5-5 before retiring in 1984 with a record of 26-10-1 (13 KOs).