Rich Cantolina

I grew up in Ambridge Pa with my sister Julie and my parents Ricky and Kathy. My parents were married at the age of 18 and I grew up in the most loving middle class home in the world. Ambridge can get a bad rap on the news and social media for being a rough area but I loved my hometown especially the schools and all the teachers. My Dad boxed growing up and in the Navy until his nose was broken and he gave up on boxing. He trained me at home when I was about 4 years old but I didn’t get into any serious training until my high school was going through some crazy times and my Dad put me into the gym at 16. I started training MMA at 16 and had my first fight when I was 18 and eventually went on to hold 3 different amateur belts for different promotions including Pinnacle here in Pittsburgh. When I was about to turn pro in MMA I wanted to make a quick run in boxing to try it out and I entered the golden gloves tournament. I ended up winning the golden gloves tournament and competed for a state championship. It was that moment that changed everything for me and I fell in love with the chess match that boxing was for me and decided to turn pro in boxing instead of MMA. I now I have a pro record of 7-1-1 and will fight November 1st 2025.
I also own my own boxing gym which is quite the unique story of how it all happened. I opened in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic and I was actually let go from a previous job over opening the gym due to the pandemic bullshit. I now have 4 young girls ranked in the top 10 in the United States and have a full fight team. The Sanctuary is in an old church and has a unique vibe for a boxing gym. We have kids classes adult classes and we also run a special needs boxing program for free for any kids with special needs.

I am also a father of 6 kids. I have 3 kids of my own with Cheri and she had 3 before I met her to her husband who was murdered at the tattoo shop they own.

I also lost my father to pancreatic cancer in 2019. It was a life changing moment for me as he was my best friend and the loss of my father caused an immense downward spiral in my life were I suffered from health anxiety for a very long time that effected my everyday life where I couldn’t even function because my only thought was I was going to die.