Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz

Rigondeaux is a Cuban boxer. He was a world champion of the World Boxing Association (WBA). He is considered one of the best pound-for-pound boxers by The Ring magazine.

Amateur Stage
He began his sports training in Cuba's special schools for athletes, which he entered at age seventeen. He is considered one of the best amateur boxers of all time, and his record includes two Olympic titles achieved in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, in the bantamweight category; two amateur world titles in the same category, in Belfast 2001, and Mianyang 2005; seven national championships (2000-2006) and a panamerican title in Santo Domingo 2003.

In 2007, during his participation in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, he attempted to defect from the Cuban delegation and remain in Brazil along with Erislandy Lara, but his attempt was thwarted. As a result of the infraction, Rigondeaux ended up being removed from the national boxing team by decision of government authorities.

Thus Rigondeaux managed to leave the country in early 2009 and arrived in Miami, United States. He totaled 247 fights as an amateur, of which he won 243 and lost 4.

Professional Stage
He made his professional debut on May 22, 2009 in the same city of Miami against American Juan Noriega with victory by technical knockout; and repeated the result against Robert Guillén, and Giovanni Andrade. In the fourth fight of that year he defeated Lante Addy by unanimous decision after eight rounds.

For 2010, he faced Adolfo Landeros and finished with victory by knockout in the first round at 28 seconds into the fight. Later, in Tijuana, Mexico, he defeated José Ángel Beranza who withdrew from the fight.

Rigondeaux vs. Ricardo Córdova
On November 13, 2010, in Arlington, Texas, he faced Panamanian Ricardo Córdova, on a card that included the main event of Manny Pacquiao against Antonio Margarito. The WBA interim super bantamweight title was at stake in the fight. Over the twelve rounds, in which both touched the canvas, Rigondeaux showed himself to be rather elusive and defensive, but his more accurate punches earned him the favor of the judges by split decision. It was his first title as a professional.

Rigondeaux vs. Willie Casey
The first defense of the interim title was against Irish Willie Casey, which took place on March 19, 2011 in Dublin, Ireland. The fight ended in the first round when Rigondeaux landed two successive left-hand blows that knocked down Casey. The Irishman was able to continue, but another offensive by Rigondeaux caused the referee to end the fight, also ending Casey's undefeated record.

Rigondeaux vs. Rico Ramos
The WBA arranged for Rigondeaux, interim champion, and American Rico Ramos, regular champion, to face each other to decide the world super bantamweight champion. Both had undefeated records. The fight took place on January 20, 2012 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, and headlined a triple card. Already in the first round, the Cuban knocked down Ramos with a right jab; and continued dominating the rest of the fight until the sixth round in which he knocked out his rival with a left hook. In this way, Rigondeaux proclaimed himself absolute champion of the category, and also set a new record with the fewest fights to reach a world title.

Rigondeaux vs. Teon Kennedy
On June 10, 2012, he defended his title against American Teon Kennedy at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. However, the fight was one-sided, as Rigondeaux knocked down his rival on five occasions, so the referee ended the bout in the fifth round and awarded the victory to the Cuban by technical knockout. Kennedy himself would admit that the champion was "really fast." The fight was part of the card that included the main event of Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley.

Rigondeaux vs. Robert Marroquín

Rigondeaux held the second defense of his world title on September 15, 2012 against Robert Marroquín at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, an event preceding the main fight of Julio César Chávez, Jr. and Sergio Martínez. There was doubt that the fight would take place due to legal problems between his representative, Caribe Promotions, and Top Rank.

The fight ended in favor of the Cuban by unanimous decision, who took ten of the twelve rounds in which he demonstrated speed and accuracy, although Marroquín landed two left-hand blows that put him at risk of falling to the canvas. Rigondeaux, for his part, knocked down Marroquín twice, one of them in the last round.

Rigondeaux vs. Nonito Donaire
In what was the most important challenge of his professional career, Rigondeaux faced Filipino Nonito Donaire, in a fight that unified the WBA and WBC titles, which the Asian held. His first main event in his career was scheduled for April 13, 2013 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Donaire, an aggressive fighter and one of the best pound-for-pound fighters, had defended his title on five occasions since he won it on February 19, 2011.

Precisely, Donaire had been awarded best fighter of 2012 by the specialized press, and for this fight, he was the betting favorite. However, from the early rounds Rigondeaux maintained control of the fight with more accurate punches from his left hand, and fighting at distance, although evasive at times. In fact, both showed caution in various parts of the contest, which caused moments of lethargy that provoked rejection from the public. For his part, Donaire seemed bewildered, and although he occasionally took the offensive, he never strived to pressure the Cuban.

It was in the tenth round that the Filipino had his best moment when he connected on Rigondeaux's face and sent him to the canvas, but the Cuban responded in the twelfth round with a powerful blow that left Donaire's right eye injured, who decided to protect the contusion in what remained of the round. The judges' verdict was a unanimous decision for Rigondeaux (114-113, 115-112, 116-111), so he added the WBC title to his WBA crown. Rigondeaux's trainer, Pedro Luis Díaz, accepted that his protégé had fought "in the Cuban way": "hit and don't let yourself get hit"; while Nonito expressed his respect for Rigondeaux "for the beautiful boxing" with which he had presented himself that night.

Nevertheless, Rigondeaux's style does not seem to have pleased the public and journalists until this presentation, as there are those who have called him "a runner"; and it is said that the scarce spectacle he has provided could cause reluctance from major television networks to feature him on a card, and even from challengers to face him.

This is what HBO and SHOWTIME say, because the public was amazed by his style and left Nonito with multiple fractures. Nonito was Bob Arum's "golden boy", and they were in charge of eclipsing Rigondeaux's career.

Rigondeaux vs. Joseph Agbeko

The first defense of his two world crowns was scheduled for December 7, 2013 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The challenger was Ghanaian and former world bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko, 33 years old and who had a record of 29 wins and 4 losses. The encounter turned out to be unattractive, with a challenger who gave little fight, Agbeko barely connected 4 punches per round, the second lowest punch percentage in history in a 12-round world title fight which was surpassed by only one punch compared to the fight between Devon Alexander and Randall Bailey, and in which Rigondeaux remained true to his style of maintaining distance. In the end the decision was unanimous with all three judges' scorecards 120-108 in favor of the Cuban.

Rigondeaux vs. Vasyl Lomachenko
On December 9, 2017 he faced super featherweight champion and also two-time Olympic champion, Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko at MSG in New York. Throughout the fight, the Cuban would display lacklustre boxing, characterized by clinching at every moment with his rival trying to hook his opponent's arms and dropping his body significantly; Lomachenko's superiority would be seen throughout the entire fight. Finally after the completion of the sixth round, Rigondeaux would not come out of his corner citing an injury to his left hand, which is why the Ukrainian successfully defended his super featherweight title, and the Cuban would suffer the first loss of his career.

Rigondeaux vs. Casimero
In a dull and action-less fight, Filipino John Riel Casimero fought the whole night to get the Cuban to engage in the fight and silence the boos. With only 44 punches landed in 12 rounds fought and where he spent the time dodging punches and pushes from Filipino champion John Riel Casimero, multi-champion Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux suffered his second professional loss in a fight on August 14, 2021 in Carson, California.