Alberto Machado stared down at Andrew Cancio in Los Angeles on Wednesday during the final press conference before their fight Saturday night at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif.
Just as the WBA “regular” super featherweight champion peered intensely toward his opponent, Machado himself is under watchful eyes these days — mainly from his legendary co-promoters Miguel Cotto and Oscar De La Hoya.
"For me, it’s a dream come true because Miguel Cotto is one of my favorite fighters of Puerto Rico and Oscar De La Hoya, I’ve watched his fights against Fernando Vargas, Felix ‘Tito’ Trinidad and now, he’s my promoter," Machado tells Sporting News. "For me, it’s a dream come true. Me representing Puerto Rico with Golden Boy Promotions and Miguel Cotto Promotions is another step."
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Cotto, De La Hoya and trainer Freddie Roach expect greatness from Machado, but not more than the 28-year-old demands from himself. While pushing himself to be one of the greatest Puerto Rican fighters of all time, Machado is also aiming to have his family set for life in the process.
“Now, I want to make my legacy good for my family,” Machado says.
This fight is pivotal toward that quest, as the bout marks Machado’s third title defense and his debut headlining a card on DAZN. While Machado is fighting Cancio, WBA "super" super featherweight champion Gervonta Davis will be defending his belt against Hugo Ruiz roughly 130 miles away at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. (Ruiz was named a replacement after Abner Mares revealed that a detached retina forced him out of the fight).
If both champions are successful in defending their respective titles Saturday night, then the timing would be ripe to make a Davis-Machado fight to determine the true WBA champ at 130 pounds. As far as Machado is concerned, however, he already the WBA king of the division.
When Machado scored an eighth-round knockout of Jezreel Corrales in October 2017 to capture the then-vacant championship, the WBA recognized him as its world super featherweight titleholder, but when Davis blasted Jesus Cuellar via a third-round TKO in April 2018, the WBA declared Davis the "super" super featherweight champion, relegating Machado to "regular" champ.
That prompted Machado to tweet the following:
I should be the real super world super featherweight champion. #explosivoMachado pic.twitter.com/9Y2UROKAHI
— Alberto J. Machado (@xplosivomachado) April 21, 2018
Close to a year later, Machado stands by that assertion while speaking about the possibility of a showdown between he and Davis.
“I don’t know, for me, it’s not a unification because when I become a world champion I beat Jezzrel Corrales,” Machado said. “Jezzrel Corrales was the super featherweight super world champion. I feel I’m the super featherweight 'super' world champion.”
Machado isn’t overlooking Cancio at all, having his opponent well-scouted entering Saturday night. That said, as much as he knows how much fans want to see him fight Davis, he’s not putting too much stock in the mega-clash coming to fruition. After all, Golden Boy, which promotes Machado, and Premier Boxing Champions, which promotes Davis, don’t exactly see eye-to-eye.
"I am ready, but if the fight [doesn’t] come, OK," Machado said. "After Cancio, I’ll sit down with my team for the next steps of my career. But Gervonta Davis … the people on the social [media] want the fight. I’m ready for the fight, I’m ready for the other [super featherweight] champions. If Gervonta Davis says for me, ‘OK,’ then I’m ready to make the fight a reality — make it happen."
Davis (20-0, 19 KOs) and Machado (21-0, 17 KOs) stand as the only undefeated champions at super featherweight. Masayuki Ito, Tevin Farmer and Miguel Berchelt all have losses on their respective ledgers.
"El Explosivo" has been doing his best to keep up with "Tank" Davis' penchant for winning by knockout, as evidenced by Machado’s first-round destruction of Yuandale Evans in October inside the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
“I had a great training camp [in preparation for Evans],” Machado says. “I expect the same power for the fight against Cancio.”
If he's successful, and convincingly so, on Saturday, Machado tells Sporting News, he plans to have two more fights at 130 pounds before moving up to 135.
“I'm 5-10 [with a] 72-inch [reach],” he says. "I'm going to move up soon, maybe in 2019."
There, Vasiliy Lomachenko rules as unified WBA/WBO lightweight champion, and while Machado is getting ahead of himself, he had to admit that the scenario of facing the Ukrainian boxer is mouth-watering.
“It will be a great fight for me because Lomachenko is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. For me, it’d be a dream come true,” Machado said, unable to contain his excitement. "It's good for me, it's good for boxing. I have power in my two hands. I win good ways. I have my skills, I have speed. At 135 pounds, I'm going to feel much better."
Machado is brimming with confidence — and has been for quite some time — but his upward trajectory might have been derailed if it wasn’t for one key overhaul to his strategy that he made as a youth.
Machado, a natural righty, remembers being advised as a kid growing up boxing in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to switch his stance to southpaw. He did, and the decision proved to be vital for his career. He went on to become an amateur sensation before going pro in November 2012.
"It helped my development and power in two hands," he said.
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With that 5-10 height and 72-inch reach, Machado has the luxury of staying on the outside and throwing his range jab to gauge space before measuring up his opponent and sitting on his punches. Whether he throws lefts or rights, when he times his punches well, "El Explosivo" has punches that detonate. Evans found that out the hard way; Corrales, too.
And Machado finished Corrales in that fashion to become world champion despite being heavily preoccupied at the time over the massive destruction Hurricane Maria wreaked on Puerto Rico just weeks prior to the fight. Plus, the boxer had another reminder of how precious life is.
"Three weeks before the storm, I became a father," he said. "When the storm passed from Puerto Rico, I was [in the United States] for my first world title shot. It was very emotional. My mind was in Puerto Rico for that time. But my family, everything was good … thanks to God."
In September, Machado and his wife celebrated their son’s first birthday.
The combination of representing Puerto Rico, which is still trying to recover from Maria, and his family is all the fuel Machado needs to drive his way through what could be his biggest year in boxing, all the way up until he registers his last career round.
"After my boxing career," he says, "we can live all my life as a champion."
