Ramos-Rigondeaux: Can Cuban Guillermo win World title in just his 9th fight?

By Boxing News - 01/19/2012 - Comments

Image: Ramos-Rigondeaux: Can Cuban Guillermo win World title in just his 9th fight?By Peter Wells: There have been many great Cuban fighters in boxing and as more and more are escaping their homeland to turn to the professional ranks the amount of Cuban world champions is on the rise. Yuriokis Gamboa is currently setting the example forcing his way into the pound-for-pound rankings and showing discipline that has lacked from Cuban fighters before him.

But Guillermo Rigondeaux is 31 and has over 300 amateur bouts on his resume, and he is looking in great shape to challenge Gamboa for that spot. He’s a couple divisions below his fellow countryman but the fight between the two is always a possibility.

Rigondeaux has flown out the pro blocks winning all 8 fights and is now in a perfect position to win a world crown in just his 9th fight. Well it’s not as simple as that, as the man in the opposite corner is a highly talented American fighter who is also unbeaten in 20 fights and much younger than the Cuban at 24. The softly spoken Ramos is a man fighting for his family and showed his heart when knocking out Akifumi Shimoda in the 7th round when he was clearly behind on the cards. It was a crunching shot that stole the WBA title from the Japanese fighter. Rico has power in both hands especially with the short left hook, and has some dazzling hand speed.

So Guillermo is in for a tough fight and this is no doubt a very intriguing bout. The Cuban stepped up in class in his 7th fight when defeating former World Champion Ricardo Cordoba. He touched the deck for the first time in his career in that fight although it should have been ruled a slip. He then proved that he belonged with Super Bantamweights top fighters when he annihilated unbeaten Willie Casey in Ireland in just one round.

This may not be a classic, but it is hard to decide who will come out this fight unbeaten. Ramos’ win over Shimoda showed that Rico can be outclassed and i’m sure Guillermo will feel confident after that fight, but it also showed that Ramos is never out of the fight and one punch can turn the fight in his favour. Rico is a deserving World Champion and will almost definitely win more world honours in the future but Rigondeaux is just that bit too good. The Cuban can open a big lead by the halfway mark and should be able to use his foot speed and clever head movement to keep his lead to the final bell.



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