By Brian Webber: Former WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo ‘El Chacal’ Rigondeaux (21-3, 14 KOs) looked impressive on Friday night, destroying journeyman Jesus Martinez (33-18-1, 16 KOs) by a first round knockout in a scheduled 10 round bout at the Hialeah Park Racing & Casino in Hialeah, Florida.
After the contest, Rigondeaux said he wants a title shot at 122 following his lightning-fast first-round knockout of Martinez tonight, but he’s going to have to continue winning for him to get that fight.
The talented 42-year-old Cuban southpaw Rigondeux looked like he’d discovered the fabled fountain of youth tonight, picking up his first victory in three years since 2020 by obliterating the 42-year-old Martinez, and dropping him twice before the referee waved it off.
Coming off a one-year layoff, Rigondeaux teed off on the Colombian Martinez, tagging him with repeated left hands to the head that he had no way of stopping. After cornering Martinez, Rigondeaux dropped him with a right-left combination.
When the action resumed, Rigondeux drove Martinez to the opposite corner and then poleaxed him with a hard left to the head. Martinez was badly hurt, causing the referee to step in and stop the contest.
Rigondeaux back
It was an impressive performance by Rigondeuax, who fought more aggressively than he’d done in his last two fights in decision losses to John Riel Casimero in 2021 and Vincent Astrolabio in 2022.
In fairness to Rigondeaux, he was given a raw deal in his 12 round split decision loss to Casimero in Carson, California. Rigondeaux picked Casimero apart, but two of the judges favored the Filipino fighter based on his aggressiveness.
Tonight, Rigondeaux was going to make sure that he wasn’t going to leave it in the hands of the judges, so he went after Martinez from the opening bell.
Rigondeaux was coming off a cooking accident in which he suffered burns on his face and eye injuries. Tonight, Rigo showed no signs of eye problems or lasting effects from his burns with the way he destroyed Martinez.
“I just wanted to say I’m back. The Jackal is back,” said Rigondeaux.
It’s going to take a handful of wins over top contenders for Rigondeaux to get a high enough ranking for him to force a title shot against one of the champions at super bantamweight.
Currently, Rigondeaux isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies at 122, which isn’t surprising given that he hadn’t won a fight in three years.
With Rigondeaux’s advanced age, it would be smart for him to fight as frequently as possible because he can’t afford to battle once or twice a year and expect to get a quick title shot.
Again, Rigondeaux isn’t ranked, and we’ll need to fight as much as he can in the next 12 months to make up for the lost time and to get moved up to the #1 spot.