Andrew Cancio, All or Nothing!

It’s said “Anything you truly want must be worth fighting for” and though Andrew “Chango” Cancio has struggled with even knowing if a boxing career is what he truly wanted, he’s still here fighting hard for it.

After a two year lay off where he saw the birth of his daughter and worked on his fall-back, barber school, the 23 year old returned with a fourth round knockout over Lowell Brown. Four months later, Cancio earned “Fight Of The Night” for his all action battle with Fernando Carcamo in December of 2011. Cancio dropped Carcamo twice in the final round to edge out a Majority decision victory after eight rounds.

Standnfight.com’s Dominic Serna caught up with the Blythe Ca. native as he prepares for his March battle with veteran Roger “Speedy” Gonzalez.

DS: You put on a stellar performance in your last fight against Fernando Carcamo, can you tell me about that fight?

Cancio: That fight was a little tough. The first round went good but started getting even towards the end. I knew in the eighth round I had to come out with something and I was in shape so I was able to do that. I dropped him twice and that gave me the split decision 76-74 (twice). I was happy with that.

DS: In the first round you seemed to have him hurt and you went after him, did that affect your game plan in any way?

Cancio: Not necessarily, I had him hurt but I saw he was alright so I backed off. It didn’t ruin it, he just adapted to the way I was fighting and started putting up a good fight. Then I had to adapt to the way he was fighting.

We don’t ever go in there expecting a knockout, if it happens, it happens. That’s what I’ve always said; we always go in there prepared to go the distance.

DS: Going into that final round, did you feel you were behind on the scorecards?

Cancio: Yea, I thought we needed to win the eighth round and we needed to win it decisively. The whole time we were fighting, I was hitting him to the body and he was squinting. Every time I went to the body, he started running.

DS: Did you feel you were breaking him down?

Cancio: Yea, like in the seventh round, when he gave me a pretty good ass whoopin’, I knew he didn’t have anything left and I did. That’s why In the eighth round, I said it’s all or nothing.

DS: How did it feel when you finally put him down?

Cancio: you know what I told my self? (laughing) It’s about F’ing time! ‘Cause I knew I was hurting him but he wouldn’t go down. In the seventh round he gave it his all.

DS: When he went down that first time, did you think he was going to try and hang on?

Cancio: I knew there was a lot of time left and I knew I still had more, so I said; I’m just going to keep going after him. I pretty much wanted to stop him and when he got up, I just hit him one more time and he went back down. I hit him With a straight right.

DS: Tell me about the eye. It seemed you were fighting with one eye for most of the fight.

Cancio: Yea, in the second round, my eye swelled up big time. I don’t know if a thumb got in there or what because I don’t usually swell up like that. I couldn’t even see out of the right eye, especially how he was turning southpaw and over hooking that left.

When the doc’s came in (to check the eye), they went through my left and said; ‘how many fingers am I holding up?’ Man, (laughing) If they would have went over here (on the right), they would have stopped the damn fight. I would have had to guess but since it was on the left I was able to read the numbers off and they said; ‘alright he’s good to go’.

DS: After that he seemed to target that eye?

Cancio: After that all I did was keep my right hand up.

DS: So was there a problem actually seeing him?

Cancio: I could see him but when he turned southpaw, I had to be real careful with that left hand.

DS: That night you got “Fight Of the Night”, tell me about that.

Cancio: We won tickets to the Abner Mares vs. Joseph Agbeko fight at the Staples Center but my coach said he wanted me to go back home to tend to my eyes and keep the swelling down.

DS: so far was that one of the highlights of your career?

Cancio: It was a tough fight but… I wouldn’t say they’ve seen the best of me yet.

At 122 lbs. I was quick and snappy and I had took a two year layoff so that was just my second fight back. We’re barely getting back into the groove and now I feel like, Ok It’s going to start coming. As far as the highlight of my career.. nah.

Overall, was I really satisfied with my performance? Um, I went in there at 137. This next fight, I will be going in there at 130, my more natural weight. Right now I’m walking around at 140-142 so I think it’s going to be way better. (I’ll Be) quicker stronger with snappier punchers.

DS: Why the long layoff?

Cancio: well, I had my daughter. I was undefeated for a while and fights were falling through left and right. I actually went to barber school right here in Indio and I was traveling back and forth from Blythe to Indio and that took a year. I tried to train in between but It just wasn’t working. After that, I got my life together and I didn’t even know if I wanted to fight anymore. Not till I was sure about it, did I come back in and that’s where we are at right now.

DS: So there were a few setbacks?

Cancio: Yea, I had an abnormal MRI on top of all that. They suspended me for six months to make sure it was nothing. Ever since we turned pro, it has been rocky. We fought a couple times and boom, we got the abnormal MRI.

DS: Do you feel this last fight will boost your career and get you some bigger fights?

Cancio: I hope so. It was my first eight rounder and we went the distance. we were in shape but like I said; we were in the wrong weight class. I wasn’t cut up like the way I’ll be on March 16th. We still have four weeks to go and I think we’re happy where we’re at right now.

I’ll be ready for this fight. I’ve been training for this fight since the day after Christmas because I was suppose to fight on February 3rd then It got moved to the 24th and now March 16th.

DS: Any idea of who the opponent will be?

Cancio: Roger “Speedy” Gonzalez, I’ve seen him fight one time. He fought Yuriorkis Gamboa and I saw that fight. He’s 25-5.

DS: So this will be a pretty good test.

Cancio: Yea, another one.

DS: Anything you’d like to say to your fans?

Cancio: Just thanks for making that drive from Blythe to come watch me. I just appreciate all the help and support they give me.

Cancio vs Gonzalez will be come on the undercard that features Randy Caballero as the headliner and Omar Figueroa in the co-feature.

http://youtu.be/C3wybdmQPww

Tickets, priced at $25, $35 and $45, are on sale now and available for purchase at the Fantasy Springs Box Office, by calling (800) 827-2946 or online at www.fantasyspringsresort.com. Doors at Fantasy Springs will open at 6:00 p.m. PT on fight night and the first bell rings at 6:30 p.m. PT