Avila Perspective Chap. 52 Andrew Cancio, Franchon Crews and More

During the early morning hours Andrew “Chango” Cancio wields a jack hammer and breaks up concrete with a small crew before the temperatures rise too high. At night, he dons boxing gloves in an open door gym in Ventura.

It’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act he’s been doing for years.

People often ask: how can he withstand the heat and discomfort?

“It gets way hotter than this in Blythe,” Cancio answers back with a chuckle.

The native of Blythe, Calif. a small desert community just before the Arizona border, first learned the art of boxing while in that town where temperatures soar to ungodly heights above 120 degrees.

“That’s hot!” says Cancio (pictured with Oscar De La Hoya after receiving the ceremonial key to his hometown). It was in another desert town, Indio, that Cancio captured the WBA super featherweight world title by knockout after getting knocked down this past February.

Cancio (20-4-2, 15 KOs) returns to the site of his greatest victory this Friday June 21, to face Puerto Rico’s Alberto Machado (21-1, 17 KOs) at Fantasy Springs Casino. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions rematch.

The journey continues.

Golden Boy matchmaker Robert Diaz always harbored a special fondness for Cancio who nearly quit after losing to Jojo Diaz in 2016.

“This kid is never in a boring fight,” said Robert Diaz no relation to Jojo Diaz.

After his last loss Cancio resumed his career but doubled up his ante. He was matched against undefeated Kazakhstani Aidar Sharibayev who knocked out six of his seven foes when he stepped into the ring. Cancio floored him three times in winning by technical knockout in the 10th round and claimed ownership of a regional WBA title.

Now he faces Machado once again whom he defeated to grab the WBA world title.

“I know that people say I was lucky,” said Cancio, 30. “But I’m going to do it again.”

In their first encounter Cancio was selected for both his ability to draw big crowds from nearby Blythe and for his inhuman ability to take a blow from knockout artists. Prior to his fight with Machado, the fighter known as “Chango” traded hellish blows against Dardan Zenunaj a no-nonsense kind of fighter from Eastern Europe who mirrored Cancio in tenacity and ruggedness.

After 10 rounds of fiendish exchanges Zenunaj said it was an honor to lose to a warrior like Cancio. The feeling was mutual.

Now he faces Machado again, a punching machine from San Juan, Puerto Rico, who walked into the arena an overwhelming favorite four months ago. Oddsmakers not familiar with Cancio were badly mistaken. Fans from the nearby desert region expected an upset. They had seen his victories against monster punchers before.

In the first round Machado did what was expected and floored Cancio . What was not expected was that Cancio would get up, turn up the fire and change from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde.

The native of Blythe brought the heat and broke the Boricua with a withering body attack that forced Machado to either protect his body or protect his head. Not both. Cancio knocked him out with a body shot at 2:16 of the fourth round to take the WBA super featherweight world title.

Machado acknowledges the defeat with a foot note.

“I don’t want to make excuses but I didn’t make weight properly,” said Machado who trains in Hollywood, Calif. with Freddie Roach. “This time I have prepared properly for this fight.”

Meanwhile, things remain normal for Cancio. He wakes up early in the morning, goes to work jackhammer in tow and busts concrete. On Friday he looks to put on the boxing gloves and drive to Indio to bust jaws and livers. Different locale same result.

More Fantasy

WBO light flyweight titlist Angel “Tito” Acosta (20-1, 20 KOs) the tiny powerhouse from San Juan, Puerto Rico looks to increase his knockout win total to “21” knockout when he faces Mexicali’ Mexico’s Elwin Soto (14-1, 10 KOs) in the co-main event Friday at Fantasy Springs Casino.

Acosta’s only loss was by decision to Japan’s Kosei Tanaka back in 2017.

Soto hails from nearby Mexicali which is a mere hour away from Indio and he should have plenty of fan support.

Also, super lightweight Luis Feliciano (11-0) an undefeated Boricua who trains in South El Monte meets Fernando Carcamo (23-9 a veteran from Mexico who is capable of beating upper tier fighters. He lost by majority decision to Andrew Cancio back in 2011.Of course that was a different Cancio.

Feliciano trains with Ben Lira and has moved up the ladder of the super lightweight rankings with steady performances.

Others on the card are Ireland’s Aaron McKenna, Las Vegas’ Blair Cobb and two others.

Thursday Show Tonight

A Golden Boy fight card based out of Atlantic City takes place tonight at Ocean Resort Casino. DAZN will show the fight.

Franchon Crews, the newly signed female prizefighting world champion, makes her debut with Golden Boy Promotions.

Crews (4-1) has the WBC super middleweight world title but will be fighting a non-title fight against Kayla Williams (0-2-1) in a bout set for eight rounds. It’s been almost a year since her last fight when she won the vacant world title by defeating Maricela Cornejo.

Tip of the hat to Oscar De La Hoya, Eric Gomez and Robert Diaz for signing the Baltimore-based prizefighter. Crews becomes the third female fighter on their roster and deserves the attention. She made her pro debut and fought Claressa Shields back in November 2016. Though Crews lost the fight it was one memorable debut for both. Today Shields insists that was her most difficult fight.

Las Vegas

An expected rematch between WBC super welterweight titlist Tony Harrison and Jermell Charlo fell to pieces when the champion suffered an ankle injury a few weeks ago.

Now, ex-champion Charlo (31-1, 15 KOs) faces Mexico’s Jorge Cota (28-3, 25 KOs) in a non-title fight set for 12 rounds at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Sunday June 23. FOX will televise the TGB boxing card.

Too bad.

Fans were looking forward to the rematch between Harrison and Charlo especially after their opening press conference in Los Angeles in April. Both didn’t mince words and attitudes were at fever pitch.

It’s still a card worth watching.

A couple of guys from Cuba are also on the card.

Former world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (18-1) meets Julio Ceja (32-3) in a super bantamweight battle set for 12 rounds.

Leduan Barthelemy (14-0-1) meets Jose Cayetano (21-6) in a lightweight match set for eight rounds.

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