Andrew Cancio‘s Cinderella story of going from gas company technician to world champion overnight took a shocking turn when the junior featherweight lost his WBA title to journeyman Rene Alvarado last Saturday. Things went from bad to ugly as the 31-year-old “blue-collar” champion (21-4-2, 16 KOs) was dropped by Golden Boy Promotions shortly following his defeat in a move many are calling a shot below the belt.
Cancio’s release happens just after he did a candid pre-fight interview with the Los Angeles Times. Taking a page out of Canelo Alvarez and Ryan Garcia’s playbook, Cancio took the gloves off, unloading a verbal barrage against Golden Boy. The Blythe, CA native was one of the best boxing stories of 2019 after he came out of retirement and pulled off an upset knockout over Alberto Machado to win the WBA junior lightweight title. The Blythe, CA native bared his frustrations with being consistently overlooked and underpaid, particularly when he was on the Canelo Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev card.
According to Cancio, “El Chango” was promised a co-main event but that was handed to “King Ryan” to appease the disgruntled top prospect who was also handed a rich, new contract as well. Cancio now finds himself without a promotional deal. Since his story went live the boxing fraternity has rallied around the Mexican-American star:
Complaining to the media if you’re the biggest boxer in the world (Canelo) or one of its most social media savvy (Garcia) is one thing, but Golden Boy apparently felt that Cancio wasn’t worth the trouble.
You have to feel for the working-class hero. Being dropped like Luis Ortiz against Deontay Wilder during the holiday season seems cold-blooded.
