Andrew Cancio’s Stunning WBA Takeover: Machado Stopped Twice
On February 9, 2019, Andrew Cancio recovered from a first-round knockdown to stop defending WBA super-featherweight champion Alberto Machado in the fourth round in Indio, California. He knocked Machado out again in the third round of their June 21 rematch before losing the championship to René Alvarado in November.
Career Milestones and Fight Results
Cancio won the belt on February 9, 2019, at Fantasy Springs in Indio, California. He recovered from a first-round knockdown and stopped defending champion Machado in the fourth round. The title was held by Machado rather than vacant.
Cancio retained the championship in their June 21 rematch with a third-round knockout. His next defense ended in defeat to Nicaragua’s Rene Alvarado on November 23, 2019, when the contest was stopped after seven rounds. Those results define his documented championship reign. WBA: Cancio’s rematch victory.
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Cancio’s first fight with Machado was a comeback as well as a championship upset. He was dropped in the opening round, recovered and stopped the defending champion in the fourth. The WBA belt changed hands in that bout, and Cancio then confirmed the result by stopping Machado again in their June rematch. Those back-to-back wins made the championship run unusually clear: the first established him as champion, and the second showed the result was not a one-night accident (WBA rematch report).
The reign ended against Rene Alvarado in November 2019. That loss is part of the same title timeline and prevents the profile from presenting the Machado victories as an open-ended championship story. Cancio’s 2019 campaign had three distinct stages—winning the belt, defending it successfully against Machado, then losing it to Alvarado. For a reader following the division, the sequence explains both how Cancio became a world champion and when his run at the top concluded.
The Machado rematch confirmed Cancio’s first win was not a one-night upset: he retained the WBA regular title with another stoppage, this time in the third round. The eventual loss to Alvarado ended that championship run later in the same year. The sequence is clear when the first fight, rematch, and title loss are treated as separate bouts; it also avoids describing the belt as vacant when Cancio defeated Machado for it. WBA report on Cancio’s title win.
Body punching decided both Machado fights
The first Machado bout changed direction after a difficult opening for Cancio. Once he recovered from the knockdown, he continued moving forward and found success attacking the champion’s body. In the fourth round, Machado went down three times from that sustained body attack before the fight was stopped. The upset gave Cancio his twentieth professional victory and fifteenth win inside the distance.
The rematch at the same Indio venue followed a similar tactical theme. Cancio worked at close range and again targeted the body, finishing with a liver shot in round three. Machado took a knee and could not beat the referee’s count. Winning a second time against the same opponent confirmed that Cancio could reproduce the approach that had brought him the belt four months earlier.
His 2019 championship record therefore consists of a title-winning upset, one successful defense and the subsequent loss to Alvarado. Keeping those three fights in sequence explains both the achievement and the limits of his reign: Cancio captured an existing championship from Machado and defended it before another challenger ended his run.
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Article Tags
Andrew Cancio, Boxing, Championship Fights, Boxing History
