By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KOs) could be facing WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (29-0-1, 17 KOs) in a unification fight. Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya is reportedly interested in letting Santa Cruz face the hard hitting Cuban fighter.
This is likely something that is being driven by Santa Cruz himself rather than De La Hoya, because Santa Cruz has talked about wanting to test himself against Rigondeaux.
Santa Cruz likes the idea of facing the guy considered to be the best fighter in the 122 pound division, unlike the other super bantamweight champions, who want nothing to do with Rigondeaux.
Rigondeaux’s contract with Top Rank expired last year after he defeated Sod Kokietgym by a 1st round knockout. In Rigondeaux’s last fight, he defeated Hisashi Amagasa by an 11th round stoppage win last December in a fight that took place in Japan. It was a huge departure from Rigondeaux’s fight against former WBO 122 pound champion Nonito Donaire.
That was a high profile fight that was televised on HBO. But after that fight, Rigondeaux found himself without any important fights and there was talk that the HBO higher ups weren’t pleased with his fighting style. Rigondeaux has changed the way he fights and he’s now more offensively inclined, as we saw in his recent wins over Amagasa and Kokietgym.
“It’s good to know that Santa Cruz’ promoter has stated that our unification fight has to happen,” an ecstatic Rigondeaux said. “I want to add his (WBC) green belt to my WBA and WBO championship collection. I’ve wanted this fight for some time. Let’s hope this is not just idle talk. Let’s do it!”
It’ll still be interesting to see if De La Hoya lets Santa Cruz fight Rigondeaux, because this kind of match-up would run counter to the type of opponents that Santa Cruz has been put in with lately. In Santa Cruz’s last two fights, he’s been matched up against his former sparring partner in Manuel Roman and against a featherweight fringe contender in Jesus Ruiz.
Santa Cruz knocked out both guys fairly easy, but the opposition was really poor and they weren’t good fights for the boxing fans that saw them. It’s hard to believe that De La Hoya would give the green light to a Santa Cruz vs. Rigondeaux fight because it’s a huge step up in class for Santa Cruz, and he just doesn’t seem ready for a move like this.
If Rigondeaux ages to the point where he’s beatable, then I could see De La Hoya being agreeable to letting Santa Cruz face him, but beyond that I see the only way this fight happens is if Santa Cruz pushes for it himself the way Saul “Canelo” Alvarez pushed for fights against Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara.
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