After spending his entire life in Sacramento, California, Cain Sandoval has relocated his camp to Hollywood to work with the junior welterweight prospect’s new trainer: Freddie Roach.
The benefits of being at the Wild Card Boxing Club under the guidance of Roach, a Hall of Famer, are already abundantly clear to the 22-year-old Sandoval, who previously worked with Marcus Caballero of the Caballero NorCal Boxing Club.
“Training with Freddie Roach is going great. I love it. I feel like I should have been here,” Sandoval told BoxingScene. “In Sacramento, there was no top sparring or world-class sparring, if I’m brutally honest. I was beating everybody up.”
Sandoval, 14-0 (12 KOs), will face Mark Bernaldez on February 21 at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California. The bout will be the main event of a 360 Promotions event streaming on UFC Fight Pass.
One of the fighters Sandoval has sparred since training with Roach is former undisputed lightweight champion and former junior welterweight titleholder Devin Haney, who is also originally from Northern California.
“We’re probably going to spar more often after my upcoming fight. I’m going to be fighting a shorter Filipino who is going to come at me,” Sandoval said. “Sparring Haney doesn’t really match my style, so we are going to get some more rounds in.”
Recently, Sandoval’s daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, which kept him out of the ring in the fourth quarter of 2024. (He discussed the ensuing emotional adversity with BoxingScene in January.) After enduring the mental and physical toll of that situation and moving to Los Angeles to train with Roach, Sandoval feels more ready than ever to face the 30-year-old Bernaldez, who holds a record of 25-6 (18 KOs). Bernaldez enters on a two-fight win streak.
“I feel like I’m going to be mentally prepared, physically, for sure, but I am really mentally ready,” Sandoval said. “I feel that is the biggest part of being ready for a fight – the mental part. This will be the best Cain that people have seen to date.”
Sandoval fought three times in 2024. His last fight was a knockout win over Romero Duno, preceded by unanimous decision wins over Angel Rebollar in April and 2008 US Olympian Javier Molina last February.
Sandoval feels he will soon get his chance at the top of the weight class.
“All these top 15 guys in my division, they’re not easy to beat, they’re not there for no fucking reason,” Sandoval said. “They’re there for a reason. I feel every fight is going to become more fun, because I’m going to keep training hard, keep doing what I’m doing, [and] every fight is going to be more meaningful. I can’t wait to get on that stage.”
