Rigondeaux signs with Premier Boxing Champions

Boxingnews24.com

By Chris Williams: Former WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-1, 11 KOs) has followed Manny Pacquiao over to Premier Boxing Champion, and he could be fighting on December 1 on the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury card, according to Mike Coppinger of RingTV.com.

Rigondeaux will return to his old weight division at 122, as he’s too small to be fighting at featherweight or super featherweight.

Rigondeaux, 38, hasn’t fought since losing to former WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko by a 6th round knockout in December 2017. Rigondeaux suffered a hand injury in that fight and was forced to bow out after six rounds. Assuming the 2-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist Rigondeaux ends up on the Wilder-Fury card on December 1, it would be his first fight of 2018.

Rigondeaux is still one of the best fighters at 122. His problem has been that the top fighters in the super bantamweight division haven’t wanted to fight him because of his incredible talent, and his counter-punching ability. Rigondeaux makes his opposition look really bad, so the promoters for the different fighters shy away from matching their fighters against him. Nonito Donaire was one of the brave ones that was willing to face Rigondeaux, but unfortunately he was badly schooled by the talented Cuban fighter.

It’ll be a little more difficult now for Rigondeaux to dominate the super bantamweight division like he did before, as there are some talented guys like Danny Roman, Rey Vargas, Isaac Dogboe and Terence TJ Doheny holding titles in the weight class. Dogboe is perhaps the best in the weight class by far. Roman and Doheny are both vulnerable champions. The World Boxing Association stripped Rigondeaux of his WBA title and gave it to Roman. Rigondeaux has the talent to beat Roman and Doheny. Whether he can get a fight against either of them is the real question. Roman’s promoter Eddie Hearn might not want to take the risk of putting him in with a great fighter like Rigondeaux.

It’s unclear whether Matchroom Boxing USA promoter Eddie Hearn has made an attempt to sign the 38-year-old Rigondeaux to his stable to have his fights streamed on DAZN. Hearn has been looking for talented fighters since he signed a huge 8-year, $1 billion deal with DAZN. Rigondeaux would have been a good addition to Hearn’s stable. Even though Rigondeaux lost his last fight to Lomachenko, he had to move up two weight divisions to take the fight at super featherweight. A lot of boxing fans don’t realize that. There was no catchweight in that fight. Lomachenko would likely struggle badly if he were asked to move up two divisions to fight Regis Prograis at light welterweight or Errol Spence Jr. at 147. Lomachenko is a good fighter, but he would likely be mowed down by Prograis and Spence due to the size and power advantage those two guys would have over him. Rigondeaux never had a chance against the much bigger Lomachenko. In hindsight, Rigondeaux should have never agree to fight Lomachenko at 135. That was a mistake on his part.

A mouth-watering fight to look forward to in the near future could be Rigondeaux vs. Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue. Once Inoue wins the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight tournament, there will no longer be any mountains for the Japanese star to climb at 118, and he’ll need someone like Rigondeaux to fight for him to continue to increase his popularity.

Wilder vs. Fury potential undercard fights:

– Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Alfredo Angulo: Former World Boxing Council middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has been talking about fighting Alfredo Angulo on December 1, which would put him on the undercard of the Wilder vs. Fury card. However, that fight hasn’t yet been confirmed.

– Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz vs. Travis Kauffman – this is a fight that is possible for the undercard. Ortiz, 39, is definitely fighting on the Wilder-Fury card, but the only thing that’s still being determined is who his opponent will be.

– Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. TBA