Andrew “El Chango” Cancio (20-4-2, 15 KOs) and Alberto “Explosivo” Machado (21-1, 17 KOs) hosted an international media
conference call today to discuss their upcoming 12-round rematch for the WBA Super Featherweight World Title.
Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy, and Miguel Cotto, President of Miguel Cotto Promotions, participated on the call. The event will take place Friday, June 21, 2019 at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN.
Below is what today’s participants had to say on the call:
OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Thank you very much and hello to all. Thank you for dialing in for the Andrew Cancio versus Alberto Machado II international conference call. It’s ahead of their 12-round fight for the WBA Super Featherweight World Title.
This exciting match will be taking place Friday, June 21st, at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. It will be streamed live on DAZN World Championship Boxing.
Andrew Cancio defeated Machado in a spectacular fashion back in February. After hitting the canvas in the very first round, Cancio got back up, dropped Machado three times, and earned his first world title via upset in the fourth round.
He feels he has confidence, has what it takes to remain champion, but more importantly he wants to silence his doubters and prove that his victory was no fluke.
Obviously on the other hand you have Machado. He’s a Puerto Rican fighter with a lot of knock-out power. They obviously call him ‘Explosivo’ for a reason. He has knock-out power in both hands. Obviously he wants to redeem himself. He wants to go back to where the knock-out took place and get redemption.
We expect another great fight, a wonderful rematch. We expect a sellout at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. Again, you can stream it live on DAZN, Home For Boxing.
We obviously want to thank our sponsors, Tecate, Official Beer of Boxing, and Hennessy, Never Stop, Never Settle.
We also on the other card have an exciting matchup, as well. The co-main event will be light flyweight Tito Acosta, who is with Golden Boy Promotions, and I’m honored and proud to be promoting this young world champion, alongside the likes of another great world champion, Miguel Cotto, of Cotto Promotions, who has been doing an incredible job in Puerto Rico, in cultivating world champions and finding those next young stars for generations to come.
Before I turn the call over to my president Eric Gomez of Golden Boy Promotions, I want to introduce to you a man who needs no introduction. He is a multiple weight division world champion. He is one of the most beloved in Puerto Rico. He is the president of Miguel Cotto Promotions, I introduce to you Miguel Cotto.
MIGUEL COTTO: Thank you. Always a pleasure to work together with you and all the amazing people at Golden Boy Promotions. Also I thank Tecate, The Official Beer of Boxing, and Hennessy, and Fantasy Springs Resort Casino for making this fight possible.
One fight isn’t enough for these two warriors. It will be a night to remember. Cancio came in willing to accomplish (indiscernible) and he made it. Now he needs to defend what he worked so hard to accomplish. Machado needs to prove that he owns his territory in the super featherweight division, get his crown back.
The Cancio-Machado II will be an epic battle on June 21st.
Thank you, Oscar.
OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Thank you, Miguel.
Obviously we know this rematch is a very dangerous one for both guys. That’s what makes boxing. Boxing is a sport you never know what you’re going to get. Whoever thought inside that arena, other than Cancio supporters, that Machado was going to get knocked out by Cancio.
We’re looking forward to this amazing rematch. Cancio is more than ready. He’s prepared. He’s in great shape. He’s a hard worker, a family man. Machado, the same for him. He’s been working hard. They’re ready for their rematch.
Without any further ado, let me introduce to you president Eric Gomez.
ERIC GOMEZ: Thank you, Oscar. Just a quick couple of notes. There’s still tickets available. You can get them at FantasySpringsResort.com or you can call 1-800.827.2946. We’re expecting a sellout. The first fight was a sellout. There’s a lot of excitement for this rematch.
I want to thank the sponsors, Tecate, The Official Beer of Boxing, Hennessy, Never Stop, Never Settle. They’ve been great sponsors. Obviously once again I want to thank our co-promoters, Miguel Cotto Promotions, his entire team, Bryan, everybody over there, for everything you do, Hector. It’s great working with you guys. You guys have the same vision as Golden Boy putting on the best fights. Thank you for everything.
With that, we’ll open it up to the fighters to say a few words.
I want to introduce first, the world champion, Andrew Cancio, to say a few words.
ANDREW CANCIO: Hello, everybody. Thank you guys for having me. Thank you for giving me another opportunity to showcase my skills come June 21st. I feel like the fight is going to the end the same way the first fight ended. I hope to put on a spectacular performance that night.
ERIC GOMEZ: Thank you, Andrew.
The challenger, the former champion, Alberto Machado, if you can say a few words.
ALBERT MACHADO: (Translated from Spanish) Thank you to everyone for another conference call. Nothing much more to say but that the work has been done and I’ll be ready to make weight next week, to step into the ring and become a world champion once again.
ERIC GOMEZ: Thank you.
Let’s go ahead and open it up for questions.
Q. Andrew, my first question is, before you came into the ring and won that fight in dramatic fashion back in February to get the title, go back a couple years before that, after you had the loss against Joey Diaz, you were basically retired for almost two years. I’m just wondering if you could walk me through what happened then after that fight that made you decide, I may be done with boxing, then what made you decide to come back? You’re a young guy. What was it like for you post Joey Diaz and before you got back into the ring in 2018?
ANDREW CANCIO: Post the Diaz fight, I had a lot of things going on in my personal life as far as the gym life between trainers and manager. It was just switching gyms. There was just a lot going on. I was just mentally frustrated with everything. Nothing was going right. I got cut one week before a fight on my nose sparring. There was a lot going on. I was just frustrated. I felt like here I was once again getting nowhere. Like I said, I was just more mentally frustrated and just drained from everything.
What made me get back in the ring, in the gym, was I knew I have a lot to prove, I knew I could be a world champion, like I am right now. My kids wanted to see me fight again, as well. I got the itch again. That’s what made me come back to the sport that I love doing.
Q. Were you training a little bit or basically doing your 9 to 5?
ANDREW CANCIO: No, I was not training. When I left that stadium, I didn’t pick up a pair of gloves until I started getting ready for the Aidar fight. I was in the gym I believe either one month or a month and a half before the Aidar fight just to start losing weight.
The manager that I have now, we told him not to make any phone calls until we lost some weight, once we all decided as a team we were going to go ahead and go forward.
Yeah, I was on the couch working my 9 to 5. I didn’t have no enthusiasm going into the gym or running, doing nothing. I did absolutely nothing.
Q. When you did come back and you got back in the ring, you scored a knock-out in the first fight, did you feel at that point, I’m back in the groove and I actually can still become a world champion, or did you figure you’d have a couple fights, make a couple bucks?
ANDREW CANCIO: Oh, no. World champion was always there. The only reason why I was doing it was I always thought I could accomplish my goal. A long layoff like that, upsetting an undefeated Russian.
I knew I still had it. I knew I had it when I was in the gym, sparring. Everything was still there, coming back. We just knew being active was just going to get better and better and better.
But yeah, no, we all knew we still had it, we still had what it took to get to this level.
Q. You were working a day job at the gas company, if I’m not mistaken? What do you do at the gas company? What is your actual job there? Do you still have that job today, even though you’re a champion getting ready for this important rematch?
ANDREW CANCIO: So, my official job title is construction technician. Yeah, I still have this job. I’m actually taking my lunch while doing this conference call right now in my truck.
Q. Did you take some time off for vacation to do your training camp?
ANDREW CANCIO: No, I only get to take off for the press media. I took a vacation, last Tuesday, when we had the media. I’m going to be working Monday, then taking Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday off using vacation time for the fight.
Q. It’s obviously been worthwhile, you would say?
ANDREW CANCIO: Oh, yeah, it’s been worthwhile. Paid off.
Q. Eric, could you speak to the dedication that Andrew shows by doing the things he just described as far as working a full-time job and taking some vacation to get ready for a world title fight. He’s a champion, he’s not making Floyd Mayweather money, not a lot of guys can do that. Seems to me he’s awfully dedicated.
ERIC GOMEZ: It shows his character. It shows his character, determination. It’s hard enough to box. But when you have a 9-to-5 job, you have to put food on the table for your kids, find ways to train early in the morning, after work, I mean, it builds character. It’s a sign of a true champion, a true overachiever.
We’re very happy for him. We’re very happy for him. He had a chance of a lifetime and he took advantage of it. You have to admire that. You have to admire that.
His fight was a big upset. Kind of like what Andy Ruiz just did. Nobody gave Andy Ruiz a chance as well. It shows if you’re committed to your craft, you put in the hard work, anything’s possible, anything’s possible.
Machado is a great champion, as well. He had an off night. You know he’s going to come hungrier than ever. It’s going to be a great fight. We’re looking forward to a great fight.
Q. Andrew, does it bother you after all the hard work that you put in to become the champion that you still have to prove yourself that you deserve to be at the top now that you’re fighting Machado again?
ANDREW CANCIO: A little bit, it does. A lot of people are saying it was a fluke or it was because he was weight trained, that that’s the reason why I won the first time. But come the second time, he’s going to win the rematch.
It does bother me. But it’s only pushing me to train even harder, to go in there and do what I did the first time around, shut these critics up, these doubters that doubt me.
I’m more confident than the last time. Training camp has gone very, very well. My sparring partners have helped me out, pushed me tremendously. Come June 21st, I’m going to show everybody exactly why I won February 9th, the first time.
Q. Alberto, do you think you have to prove something this second time around against Andrew?
ALBERT MACHADO: (Translated from Spanish) There’s nothing to show in this fight, but I am preparing strong to win, to win this fight, and to beat Cancio convincingly. June 21st will be different. I’m training with that in mind to walk away with the victory on June 21st.
Q. Andrew, I wasn’t surprised to hear that you were doing this call during your work break. How are your coworkers treating you these days? I understand they call you ‘champ’ on the job. Are they protective of you sometimes? You’re doing some rough work out there. Are they ever concerned you might hurt yourself or are you concerned you might get injured for your next fight?
ANDREW CANCIO: The guys treat me the same. I mean, we joke around a lot. We have a little inside joke. They always tell me (indiscernible). We always laugh.
They try to help me out whenever it gets closer to the fight. They’ll tell me to save my energy, they’ll dig or they’ll pick up the jackhammer. They do try to look out for me that way so I don’t injure myself.
I have that in the back of my mind when I am working the pneumatic tools to make sure I’m in a proper position, that way I don’t tweak my back or I’m careless to injure myself before the fight.
Q. Do you think doing this sort of grueling schedule that you’ve got has been an asset as far as your stamina in the ring?
ANDREW CANCIO: I would say so. I feel like I have gotten a lot stronger. When I first started doing this job, picking the jackhammer up, actually using it, was very brutal. It takes at least two to three months to get used to the digging. I used to go home and knock right now, be so drained from the job that I couldn’t do anything else.
Then now I can use all these tools and dig all day long, then go home and go train. I already got my strength and conditioning workout out of the way. I would say it’s definitely helped me out.
The jackhammer is no joke. After that you still have to dig a hole. After you dig that hole, you have to put the dirt back in and tap it down.
I definitely will tell you it’s massive for me.
Q. Alberto, you are now in the position of the challenger, which has been a long time since you’ve been the challenger. How are you approaching this? Does it feel different to you since you were a challenger the first time before you became a champion? How has the mindset shifted around for you?
ALBERT MACHADO: (Translated from Spanish) I feel well. All this has been a process of coming back, so I feel very motivated from being a prospect to becoming world champion, now to go beyond that now with the possibility of becoming a two-time world champion. All of that has me very motivated.
I work with that in mind for this fight.
Q. For the champion Cancio. How has life changed for you after winning the title? Moving forward, what do you use as motivation now that you’re the champ and not the challenger?
ANDREW CANCIO: People start recognizing me out in the streets. They ask for a photograph or autograph. But, I mean, I still work every day. I don’t think it’s changed too much. I’m not making the big, big money just yet.
What keeps me motivated is I want the bigger fights, the bigger platforms. I want to go after another champions. I feel like there’s a lot bigger fights out there for me.
I’m still on the grind. I still got a lot to prove to the boxing world of why I’m here. That’s what keeps me motivated. I got my family that I got to fight for.
Q. Knowing how motivated he will be coming off of a loss to avenge it, do you approach this any differently? Did you do anything that maybe you didn’t do the first time because you know he’s going to come with a little more incentive on the rematch?
ANDREW CANCIO: No, no. He knows what I’m going to do, I already told him. I’m going to come straight after him from round one. If he’s prepared like he says he’s prepared, it’s going to be a great fight for the fans. I’m ready to go to war for 12 rounds. I’m ready to dig to his body for 12 rounds if that’s what it takes to put him down.
So, no, we looked at tape, see what we got to do, change a little bit differently as far as while he got caught with that uppercut. Just keep doing our job in the gym. But we’re coming in with the same game plan. I hope he’s ready for it. If he is, it’s going to be a great fight for the fight fans.
Q. Alberto, in your first fight we saw you said you had some personal issues in life. I saw that you said it affected you. How has that affected training? Has that situation changed?
ALBERT MACHADO: (Translated from Spanish) With the last fight, I only fought one round with full strength. After that, I didn’t have the energy any more. But I prepared as always. I’ve always said that I’m a fighter who respects the sport. I love what I do. I do what I have to do in training.
This time is not going to be an exception. I’ve been training very well to take the title back to Puerto Rico and give happiness to my family and friends over there.
Q. Alberto, before this last fight, you were thinking about moving up to 135 pounds because clearly it was getting hard to make 130 pounds. What was your thought process in making that decision, instead of moving up to 135 you’re going to stay at 130 for this rematch?
ALBERT MACHADO: (Translated from Spanish) What made me want to do that is the way I made weight for the last fight. It wasn’t right. But that had never happened before. I’m a very disciplined fighter, so I know that I can do it in a healthy way.
Beyond becoming a world champion again, this fight is very important for my career, has a lot of meaning, because I get to avenge my only defeat in a way that only great fighters can do.
It’s something that I want for my career. It’s something that I want for my family, as well. I really like the idea of avenging this loss so I’m very motivated to get the victory that night.
Q. Andrew, obviously you’re one of those title holders at 130 pounds. If you do come out on top in this rematch, is your goal to go after the other title holders at that weight class?
ANDREW CANCIO: I would eventually like to. I know Rene Alvarado, I know he’s patiently waiting for Machado to end this fight here. If I were to come out victorious, I would like to give him the opportunity to fight for the world title. Him and I had a very great first fight when we fought years back. He’s been on a win streak ever since. I feel like it would be only appropriate for me to give him the opportunity to fight and try to win the world title against me.
Then hopefully after that then, yes, if I come out victorious with him, I would definitely go after the other title holders, as well.
Q. The title in the WBA at 130 pounds, you have one of the two titles, Gervonta Davis has the other. Alberto Machado won the title when that was the sole definitive title. Do you consider this fight, any other future fights, with the belt that you have right now, to be the true definitive WBA super featherweight championship?
ANDREW CANCIO: I would. I think Gervonta Davis needs to step out of his shell and start fighting some real opposition. I would love to fight him in the future or as soon as we can make it happen if everything goes well.
But, yes, Alberto Machado, he was fighting a lot of top opposition to win this title. I do feel he was a true champion.
Q. Alberto, before this it has been your goal to win a world title, but you have talked about moving up in weight. Will this result determine if you stay at your weight division or if you move up to 135 pounds?
ALBERT MACHADO: (Translated from Spanish) Right now I have a great motivation, which is to win this fight and become a world champion again. We had it planned since before that this would be my last year at this weight because if you just look at my height and my reach, I have what it takes to be able to move up in weight. Obviously my promoters also have been telling me as well, Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy.
With regard to my health, when it comes to moving up in divisions, we have decided this year will be my last year at 130.
Q. Alberto, what change did you do in this camp when you compare to what you did in the previous camp for the previous fight?
ALBERT MACHADO: (Translated from Spanish) It’s the time, the time that I took to prepare myself. That has been the difference. It has also showed in the way I feel. The result will be shown in the fight.
Q. Eric, throughout the years you’ve been involved in a lot of Puerto Rico versus Mexico world championship fights. Any that stand out in your mind that kind of hit home on why these fights are so significant and why these two countries always battle it out?
ERIC GOMEZ: Wow, yeah, I mean, look, I’ve been involved in the first one that I was really involved in was when Oscar fought Trinidad.
We pretty much have similar backgrounds. Mexico has a lot of pride. Puerto Rican fighters, they have a lot of pride. The people do, as well. They’re patriots. It’s just that there’s a great, great history.
I can remember back when Wilfredo Gomez fought Salvador Sanchez. Even back when I was a kid, Wilfredo Gomez was one of my favorite fighters, just loved watching him fight.
It’s very similar backgrounds, very similar upbringings. There’s a lot of pride, hard work, humble people. It always makes for great fights.
Q. Eric or Miguel, my understanding was that nobody really wanted Alberto to stay at this weight, they wanted him to move up, a lot of concern for his health. What did he do to convince everyone to make this fight happen at 130?
ERIC GOMEZ: I’ll let Miguel answer that.
MIGUEL COTTO: Bryan, can you answer.
BRYAN PEREZ: When we sat down with Alberto about the rematch, we asked him about the option about moving in weight. He said that they were going to consider it, but first he wanted to sit down with his medical staff to see if they were willing to do the weight in great condition for this fight on June 21st. The answer was yes. He needed more time to do his training. This way it was going to be done the right way as he usually does.
We gave the call up to him and his team to give him the option to move in weight, but they wanted the rematch, and that’s the way it went through.
ERIC GOMEZ: Thank you very much. I just want to thank everybody for being on the call. Want to wish both fighters, participants, good luck. I know that both fighters are going to be ready. We’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be an amazing rematch.
Once again, there’s still tickets available. We’re looking for a sellout like we did the first fight. They’re going fast. Make sure you get your tickets, Fantasy Springs Resort Casino box office or online to
www.FantasySpringsResort.com.
I want to thank DAZN. Remember, if you’re not able to go in person, you can see the fight on DAZN. I just want to thank everyone for being on, wish everybody good luck. Thank you.
