Fan-favourite former super-bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux is yet to walk away from the world of boxing and returned to action last night. Despite being 44-years-old, the slick Cuban technician scored an impressive first-round knockout.
A two-time Olympic and world champion, Rigondeaux turned professional back in 2009 and did so with a heap of expectation on his shoulders, expected to emulate his success as an amateur in the professional scene.
In just his ninth professional bout, ‘El Chacal’ claimed the WBA super-bantamweight title with a knockout win against Rico Ramos and would defend that title on two occasions before jumping into a unification clash with legendary Filipino Nonito Donaire.
In a career-best display, Rigondeaux became the unified WBA, WBO & The Ring champion with a unanimous-decision victory in New York and five further wins would follow for ‘Rigo’ until he jumped up in weight.
Rigondeaux moved up two weight divisions to take on pound-for-pound number one Vasyl Lomachenko in 2017 for the WBO super-featherweight title but found himself outclassed for the first time in his career and was halted in six rounds as he suffered a first career defeat.
Since then, he has dropped down three weight-classes to try his hand in the bantamweight division but fell short in a title challenge against John Riel Casimero and then lost a unanimous-decision to Vincent Astrolabio.
However, last year Rigondeaux bounced back with consecutive wins as a super-bantamweight before a 17-month spell of inactivity ensued.
Last night, the 122lb veteran returned to action and faced Dannis Aguero Arias (20-2), who was a late notice replacement of Ionut Baluta, and it took just one-round for Rigondeaux to dismantle the Dominican.
The 44-year-old former world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (23-3) 🇨🇺 makes a successful comeback with a first-round KO over Dannis Aguero Arias (20-3) 🇩🇴 and is the new WBC International Super Bantamweight titleholder in Miami, Florida 🇺🇸. pic.twitter.com/hiCllpIOu8
— Permante (@PermantexG) November 13, 2024
That victory saw Rigondeaux claim the WBC international super-bantamweight title and he is likely to return to into the top 15 rankings as a result.
The ageing Santiago de Cuba phenomenon also laid down the gauntlet to pound-for-pound number one and current undisputed super-bantamweight champion, Naoya Inoue, in an ambitious call-out during his post-fight interview, as Inoue searches for an well-known opponent ahead of his return to fighting in the United States.
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