Rene Alvarado (32-8, 21 KOs) had been waiting four years for this moment, and when the opportunity came he did not want to waste it.

Alvarado gets revenge from the lone KO loss that he suffered to Andrew Cancio (21-5-2) in December 2015 by getting a stoppage victory in the 7th round of their encounter at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California and takes away the WBA super featherweight title that Cancio won earlier this year over Alberto Machado. It was the first time that Alvarado fought for a world title in his career, and he made the most of it.

From the start of the fight he was coming right at Cancio, throwing punches at bunches with not much of a response coming back from Cancio to keep Alvarado off of him. In the third round, Alvarado was able to land a punch to cause a cut on the left eye of Cancio. That was a factor for the next few rounds as Cancio had issues and continued to get tagged by Alvarado. Before the seventh round, Cancio’s trainer told his fighter that he would he to see something or else he would stop the fight. Cancio did not do enough in that round to prevent the stoppage from the corner.

This win by the Nicaraguan was special for two occasions: 45 years ago boxing legend Alexis Arguello won his first world title and became Nicaragua’s first world champion, and with Rene’s win he joins his brother Felix as champions.

After the fight, Alvarado stated that he wanted to take charge early. “It was a plan to start dominating from the very beginning of the fight,” Alvarado said. “That was the plan, by Sergio Gonzalez my trainer and my corner including my brother, who’s also a world champion with me now.”

While this is a great victory for Alvarado, Cancio now takes a setback as this fight was a mandatory bout which means there is no rematch clause. He will have to fight his way back into title contention, and he was aware of that plus gave his opponent credit after the fight.

“He fought a hell of a fight and there’s nothing I can say besides congratulate him and enjoy this. I know how it feels. Now we just have to go back to the drawing board, and I have to talk it over with my team. Tonight, wasn’t my night but it is what it is. I have to take this loss as a champion and just go back home and regroup and see what we have to do.”