Rigondeaux about to be stripped of WBO of title

By Boxing News - 10/07/2015 - Comments

rigondeauxBy Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KOs) is on the verge of being stripped of his WBO 122lb title by the World Boxing Organization for failing to defend his title in more than nine months since his last title defense against Japan’s Hisashi Amagasa on December 31st 2014.

Rigondeaux has 10 days to explain to the WBO why he hasn’t defended his title during the last nine months. Given the WBO’s past history in dealing with fighters that fail to defend their WBO titles in a timely fashion, Rigondeaux will likely be stripped of his title in the next 10 days unless he can come up with a really good explanation.

Of course, Rigondeaux can always fight in the next 10 days, but I think it’s too late for that because Rigondeaux is already past the 9 month period for when he was supposed to have defended his WBO title.

The Amagasa bout was a really tough fight for the 35-year-old Rigondeaux, as he was knocked down twice in the 7th round. The 5’4” Rigondeaux got serious with the much taller 5’10 ½” Amagasa and gave him a bad beating before the fight was finally halted in the 11th round.

“Rigo on verge of being stripped of title by World Boxing Org for failure to fight in more than 9 months. They’re following their rules,” Dan Rafael said on his Twitter. “Rigo has 10 days to send World Boxing Org letter to “show cause” why he shouldn’t be stripped. Same deal as [Demetrius] Andrade. Likely will be stripped.”

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Rigondeaux was recently trying to arrange a fight against the Top Rank promoted WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko, but the negotiations went nowhere. According to Fight News, Rigondeaux’s camp was making “unrealistic demands” during the negotiations.

Rigondeaux is interested in fighting the other top super bantamweight champions WBA “regular” champ Scott Quigg and IBF 122lb champion Carl Frampton, but neither of these two fighters have shown any interest in getting in the ring with Rigondeaux.

It’s not surprising because Rigondeaux is considered the best fighter in the super bantamweight division by many boxing fans, and he’s not someone that the top fighters are eager to face because of the likelihood of them losing.

Even if the WBO strips Rigondeaux of his WBO 122lb title, he’ll still have his WBA Super World super bantamweight title. It’s unknown how long the World Boxing Association will wait before they strip Rigondeaux of that title. It might be better if Rigondeaux does get stripped of his titles, because he could then work his way to the No.1 WBA or No.1 IBF spot to force champions Quigg or Frampton to finally face him.

Brian Viloria looking forward to Roman Gonzalez fight

34-year-old former two division world champion Brian “Hawaiian Punch” Viloria (36-4, 22 KOs) is really looking forward to his title shot against WBC World flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (43-0, 37 KOs) on October 17th on HBO pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York.

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Viloria says he’s been looking forward to facing the hard hitting 28-year-old Gonzalez for the past two years, because he’s wanted to prove himself all this time.

“Can’t wait. I am prepared and I want time to move faster,” Viloria said. “I am mentally, physically ready for this fight and ready to show the world what can happen. This is going to be the best Viloria that people have ever seen.”

Viloria hasn’t faced anyone like Gonzalez before during his career, and it’s going to be a real test to see how he does against him. Viloria has beaten some big punchers during his career like Hernan Marquez, Giovani Segura, Julio Cesar Miranda, Ulises Solis, Jose Antonio Aguirre, Eric Ortiz, Angel Antonio Priolo, and Juan Alfonso Keb Baas. However, none of those guys have the same kind of punching power or talent that Gonzalez has.

Viloria has also been beaten by lesser fighters than Gonzalez like Carlos Tamara, Edgar Sosa, Omar Nino Romero and Juan Francisco Estrada. Gonzalez beat both Estrada and Sosa. Gonzalez didn’t have problems with either of those fighters. Estrada ran from Gonzalez for 12 rounds in their fight in 2012, losing by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F2XGbwpxuk

Having seen the Gonzalez-Estrada fight many times, the most accurate score of the three was the 118-110 score. Even that score wasn’t correct in my view. I had Gonzalez winning all 12 rounds of the contest because all Estrada did was run and occasionally stop to throw a punch before taking off again. Estrada didn’t want to stand and trade with Gonzalez.

“I have never seen a guy to take it to him and I feel like I will be that fighter that will step up to him,” Viloria said about Gonzalez. “Finally, we have been wanting this fight for the past two years and to finally have it here, it is exciting. I want it more. I have preparing myself for this type of event, I have been wanting this for this so long. I have so much more fire now.”



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