By Jaime Castro-Núñez: Newly crowned WBA Light Flyweight Interim Champion César Canchila returned home happier than ever! He had promised his mom he would defeat Giovanni Segura, and he did it, thus becoming the ninth world champion the Department of Córdoba (Colombia) has had since 1985, being the rest Miguel “Happy” Lora, Amancio Castro, Mauricio Pastrana, Antonio Pitalúa, Beibis Mendoza, Miguel Barrera, Carlos Maussa, and Juan Urango. Originally from Cereté but now fighting out of Barranquilla, I caught him celebrating the victory in his native city.
Jaime Castro-Núñez: César, congratulations…
César Canchila: I want to thank both you and East Side Boxing for this opportunity, thanks God I defeated Segura to capture the belt.
JCN: That one was your first fight outside Colombia. Can you describe your feelings when walking into the ring?
CC: I was impressed by the people, all those Mexicans, man, I felt like my trainers and I were the only Colombians. I thought of God, I told Him “I’m in your hands”.
JCN: I believe you were nervous during the first two rounds. Am I correct?
CC: Yes, you’re right. When I left Colombia I was very positive, I had confidence in my boxing skills, but it took around six minutes to adjust myself. Giovanni Segura has always fought inside the States and people know him, journalists, fans, everybody wanted him to win, but César Canchila was well prepared. I knew my condition was great and well, thanks God I made it.
JCN: What did you think of when Segura knocked you down?
CC: I said to myself: “This guy is going to put a lot of pressure now,” but I never thought he would either knock me out or win. I wasn’t hurt, you saw I got up quickly and fought back.
JCN: What did your trainer say during the break?
CC: He told me to think of my family, he instructed to move, to use the jab. He said I could defeat Segura and he was right, you know…
JCN: From the third round on, it was a monologue. César Canchila dictated the rhythm of the fight. What was in your mind as the fight went on and Segura seemed to run out of gas?
CC: I said, “César you must keep punching”. Remember he was the local, so I knew I had to defeat him convincingly. By the fifth round he was done, his right eye was swollen, but I said “keep punching, keep punching, you must be categorical here”.
JCN: We had a conversation a week before the fight and I remember telling you that Segura was a superb boxer. What do you think now?
CC: He’s a tough rival! He hits very hard with both hands. The thing is he’s used to knock people out, he’d defeated four Colombians before, but he hadn’t fought Canchila, you know…
JCN: The clue for the victory?
CC: My training!
JCN: What do you have to say to the ESB readers?
CC: My message to the ESB readers is that César Canchila always trains hard. I’m courageous, I don’t underestimate anybody, those who saw the fight learned that Canchila is made for big things, this is just the first step, but there are many more, I go slowly but steady. I want to keep dreaming, those who don’t dream are dead, but I’m alive and those dreams will come true, I want to keep dreaming, and keep dreaming, and keep dreaming…