By Cameron Gillon: WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (14-0, 9 KOs) says he wants to unify all the belts in the super bantamweight division by going after champions Leo Santa Cruz and Kiko Martinez. Rigondeaux is also interested in facing unbeaten top contender Carl Frampton.
Rigondeaux made very short but expected work of 37-year-old challenger Sod Kokietgym (63-3-1, 28 KOs) tonight in stopping him in the 1st round at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China. It was a complete mismatch no doubt.
It was Rigondeaux’s last fight under his Top Rank contract unless he decides to re-sign with Bob Arum, which he may choose not to do at this point given the kind of opposition that he’s been matched up recently by the 82-year-old promoter. We’re talking about a pound-for-pound top 5 fighter who isn’t being televised on HBO. He’s arguably the most skilled fighter in any division right now and its hard to see any current super bantamweight beating him and taking his titles.
Rigondeaux has made it clear he plans on unifying the whole division before moving up in weight. He currently holds the WBA, WBO and the ring titles, and he wants to face the WBC champion Leo Santa Cruz or IBF champion Kiko Martinez next. These fights would be great and its the match-ups Rigo needs, although I can’t see Martinez beating Ireland’s Carl Frampton in their September world title bout. Frampton has already beaten Martinez and hes in my opinion the best in the division behind Rigondeaux and Cruz. Rigondeaux has stated he would be open to fighting Frampton in his home nation of Ireland. That would be a huge fight if Frampton can get hold of the IBF title and fights Rigondeaux in a unified title fight, possibly the biggest fight right now.
It’s hard to see anyone ever beating Rigo at this stage of his career, even if he moved up a couple of divisions in weight to take on the bigger fighters. Right now its hard to see any fighter beating the tough Cuban no matter which weight class he moves to in the future.
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