By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten Cuban star Guillermo Rigondeaux (16-0, 10 KOs) will be anxiously waiting on the outcome of this month’s unification fight between WBA 122lb champion Scott Quigg (31-0-2, 23 KOs) and IBF champion Carl Frampton (21-0, 14 KOs) in hopes that he can face the winner of the contest.
However, it’s quite likely that Rigondeaux will be ignored by the winner of that fight, as they both seem more interested in fighting guys that they match up better against rather signing on for a fight that they would surely lose and lose badly.
Rigondeaux has a fight next month against UK domestic level fighter Jazza Dickens (21-, 6 KOs) on March 12 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. It’s kind of a stay busy fight for Rigondeaux rather than a meaningful. Rigondeaux’s last two opponents Drian Francisco and Hisashi Amagasa would likely wipe the deck with Dickens with ease.
Rigondeaux is taking a BIG step downwards in taking the fight against Dickens. However, it’s a contest that does make some sense though, because Rigondeaux will be seen by UK boxing fans in his fight against Dickens. It will also help keep pressure on the winner of the Frampton-Squigg fight.
If Rigondeaux is going to be fighting in their backyard and wiping out fellow Brits, then it’s going to be putting pressure on them to face him rather than continuing to take easy fights against guys like Kiko Martinez, Alejandro Gonzalez Jr., Hidenori Otake, Stephane Jamoye, and Jeremy Parodi.
“If the kid has the guts to get in the ring with me then I respect him for doing so. I want to take on the winner of Frampton vs. Quigg,” Rigondeaux said via Fightnews.com. “They have both been avoiding the best in their division and there’s nowhere for them to hide now.”
The problem that the 35-year-old Rigondeaux has is he’s probably not going to get the winner of the Frampton vs. Quigg fight. The fact that those two guys are fighting in a unification fight suggests that they’ll likely vacate the WBA title due to the World Boxing Association saying the winner of the fight has to face Rigondeaux.
It won’t matter that the winner of the Frampton-Quigg fight is losing the WBA title, because they’ll still have the IBF strap to validate them in the eyes of their fans in the UK. Quigg and Frampton are probably not going to be too worried about losing one of their two titles, because it’ll save them from suffering an embarrassing loss in front of their fans in the UK.
I see Frampton and Quigg motivated more for business reasons rather than for the sake of being the best. I think if they were interested in showing whether they were the best, they would have faced Rigondeaux a long time ago.
“I’m going over to England to win and then I’m going to beat Frampton and Quigg,” Rigondeaux said. “I want to make a point that I’m here waiting for them, they know where to find me! I am a warrior and I will fight anywhere; even in their own backyard. I commend Jazza for stepping in the ring with me.”
Rigondeaux will definitely be going to the UK on March 12, and he of course will likely make easy work of the 24-year-old Dickens. That’s as far as it goes though. I do not see Rigondeaux fighting Frampton or Quigg in this lifetime, period. I think those guys will avoid him their entire careers.
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