By Cameron Gillon: I’m a big fan of both Vasyl Lomachenko and Guillermo Rigondeaux, and I feel they are both in divisions that are hugely underrated with a lot of very good talent. But because they are much smaller, the great fighters in these lower divisions don’t get the recognition they deserve simply because of their size, which is wrong.
Both fighters currently hold world titles in their divisions respectfully, and a fight between these great fighters looks inevitable for the future if they both keep winning and when Lomachenko moves up in weight. Let’s have a look at both fighters.
Guillermo Rigondeaux
Record – 14-0, 9 knockouts
Current Titles held – WBA, WBO, Ring and Lineal Super Bantamweight titles.
Guillermo Rigondeaux is a two time Olympic gold medalist winning medals at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney before going to the next games in 2004 at Athens and winning gold again, both times in the bantamweight division. Rigondeaux also holds another six gold medals in the World Amateur Championships and World Cups.
In 2009, Rigondeaux turned professional and won his first 8 bouts before winning his first world title in his 9th fight against Rico Ramos winning the WBA title. Rigo continued to dominate the division as he quickly collected more belts by highly rated Nonito Donaire to win the WBO and Ring titles to unify the belts. Rigondeaux is currently 14-0 with 9 knockout victories.
Vasyl Lomachenko
Record – 2-1, 1 knockout
Current Title held – WBO Featherweight title.
Lomachenko is a Ukrainian fighter who holds five gold medals including two from the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing and another at the 2012 Olympics in London. Lomachenko finished his amateur career with a career record of 396-1, with only one loss which is a ridiculously good standard of boxing for a record. To win 396 fights out of 397 is marvelous.
Lomachenko turned professional in 2013 and had his first fight on the 12th October 2013, beating Jose Ramirez to win the WBO international featherweight title. In his 2nd fight, he faced Orlando Salido for the WBO featherweight world title. If he won this fight he would have held the record for the fastest fighter to win a world title in his 2nd fight. However, he lost this fight in a controversial split decision. Lomachenko got another chance to win a world title in his 3rd fight and beat unbeaten Gary Russell Jr to win the WBO title an equal the fastest time to a world title.
Lomachenko’s next fight is on November 22nd and will be defending against little known Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo, who has lost only one fight in his 55 odd bouts.
I firmly believe the Lomachenko-Rigondeaux fight will happen down the line. Lomachenko will go on to dominate at featherweight and clean out the division before facing Rigondeaux. This is a big fight. It’s one that I would definitely would pay to see. Rigondeaux for me is far too skilled and smart to ever be beaten. He holds a talent which is rarely ever seen. Lomachenko has one of the best if not the best amateur records in history of boxing and has the skills to beat anyone.
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