CANCIO DEFENDS SECONDARY TITLE IN REMATCH VS ALVARADO
WBA “regular” super featherweight champion Andrew Cancio will defend his belt against Rene Alvarado in a rematch on Saturday night at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, CA. Cancio will be attempting to complete his second defense of his title.
Both Cancio and Alvarado first faced off in December of 2015, with Cancio winning by knockout in the eighth round.
Cancio (21-4, 6 KO) challenged Alberto Machado for the belt back in February, winning the fight via fourth round knockout after knocking down Machado twice with body punches. Then, in June, Cancio successfully defended the secondary title against Machado in a rematch, winning the fight via third round knockout this time.
Given that Machado was unbeaten heading into his first fight with Cancio, Cancio is responsible for the only two losses on his record. Now, with the Machado phase of his career finally over, Cancio meets a new challenge in Alvarado.
Alvarado (31-8, 20 KO) is currently riding a seven-fight win streak after losing to former world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa in March of 2017. The most recent outing for Alvarado was a sixth round technical decision victory over Eusebio Osejo in April, in his home country of Nicaragua.
In the co-main event, WBA “regular” featherweight champion Can Xu will defend his title against Manny Robles III.
Xu (17-2, 3 KO) won the secondary title in January, outpointing Jesus Rojas in Houston, TX. Then, he made the first defense of the belt in May, stopping Shun Kubo inside six rounds in his home country of China.
Robles (18-0, 8 KO) is an unbeaten prospect challenging for his first world title (*some might dispute the legitimacy of the WBA “regular” title*) on Saturday night. The most recent showing for him was a split-decision win over Rigoberto Hermosillo after 10 rounds in May.
Also on the card is Rashidi Ellis taking on Eddie Gomez in a 10-round welterweight rematch. The pair both met in December of 2016, with Ellis winning via first round knockout.
Ellis (21-0, 14 KO) is a highly-regarded prospect fighting out of Lynn, Mass. His last fight was technical knockout victory of Saul Corral inside seven rounds last month.
Gomez (23-3, 13 KO) has some notable fights on his resume, including a knockout victory over Keandre Gibson and a split-decision loss to Alejandro Barrera. Like Ellis, Gomez also stopped Saul Corral in his most recent bout.
These fights and the rest of the card will be streamed on DAZN.
Lightweight contender Avery Sparrow was also slated to compete on the card against James Wilkins, but Sparrow had to pull out of the fight earlier this week due to dehydration. This is the second time in a row that Sparrow pulled out of a fight of short notice, as he was arrested just a day before his scheduled fight with Ryan Garcia in September of this year.