Fighters featured on the Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez undercard hosted a media workout in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino ahead of their scheduled fights on November 21.
Joining in the day’s festivities, WBC Super Featherweight World Champion, Takashi Miura (29-2-2, 22 KOs) and undefeated top contender Francisco “El Bandido” Vargas (22-0-1, 16 KOs), who are scheduled to face off in a12-round battle, gave fans something to cheer about as they shadow boxed in the ring.
Las vegas (Nov. 14, 2015) – The night of Saturday, Nov. 21 is one for which many are predicting a showdown of epic proportions when Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) and Canelo Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) do battle at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. In addition to the already announced televised pay-per-view undercard bouts, warming fans up for the scintillating main event will be former WBA and WBO Super Bantamweight World Champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KOs) of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba against Filipino Drian Francisco (28-1-3, 22 KOs) in a 10-round super bantamweight bout.
The addition of Rigondeaux vs. Francisco, which is presented in association with Caribe Promotions, adds even more star power to the mega-event which will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10ko) has officially signed with Roc-Nation Sports, and will appear on the Nov. 21 Cotto-Canelo HBO PPV from Las Vegas, with wide circling early reports that he is set to square off against Filipino, Drian Francisco (28-3-1, 22ko) in a 10 round non-title bout.
The oft-avoided Rigondeaux has suffered an inactive period, with his last fight being December 2014’s clash with Hisashi Amagasa in Japan, that he eventually won after 11 rounds, though not before being put down twice by the visibly bigger home fighter.
With comebacks, retirements and long awaited fights, the last 12 months of boxing have seen significant changes in the pound-for-pound rankings. Just as significantly, some things have not changed at all.
Most notably, Floyd Mayweather Jr. did the only thing he could do to further enhance his reputation as the best boxer in the world today by beating long touted rival Manny Pacquaio. What this means for Mayweather is clear but where this leaves Pacquaio is disputable.
Other reigning champs have fared indifferently. Whilst Wladimir Klitschko has notched up a couple of good wins, how he has done it has left questions about his pound-for-pound status. Andre Ward finally fought after over a year of inactivity but was it enough to show he is still better than the fast rising champions around him?
In one of my favourite movies, The Crow, just before his character throws one of the men who murdered him and his girlfriend out of a window (just watch it, it’s a great film), Brandon Lee says;
“I guess it’s not a good day to be a bad guy, huh Skank?”
Well in Britain, I guess it’s not a good day to be Bury’s WBA (reg) super-bantamweight champion Scott Quigg, as like the fabled movie and comic book hero, WBA (sup) and WBO champion, undefeated Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0,10ko) is on something of a hunting mission, publicly stating that he intends to come to the UK and call out Quigg in person.
Unified super bantamweight world champion Guillermo “The Jackal” Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KOs), arguably the most avoided reigning world title holder in modern boxing history, will travel to London next month in order to publicly confront his mandatory challenger, Scott Quigg (30-0-2, 22 KOs), the World Boxing Association (WBA) “regular” 122-pound division titlist.
A month ago in an unusual move, Rigondeaux’ manager Gary Hyde formally petitioned the WBA to enforce a mandatory title fight between his WBA Super champion and Quigg. Hyde is awaiting the WBA’s decision. Rigondeaux is also the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and The Ring magazine’s super bantamweight champion.
Oscar De La Hoya president of Golden Boy Promotions has come out and said that unification bout in the 122 pound decision have to happen as those are the bouts that the fans want to see. Both Santa Cruz and Rigondeaux have been in a few fights as of late with very underwhelming opponents. They have beaten some good fighters, but it’s the best vs. the best that gets the reaction from fans and that simply has not been happening.
Guillermo Rigondeaux was also mentioned at the post fight press conference of Santa Cruz last fight against Jesus Ruiz and it was said that if the fans did indeed want that fight, then that is the one that they would pursue. Now that Oscar De La Hoya has also mentioned something similar those comments may actually hold some weight.
World Boxing Association (WBA) Super, World Boxing Organization (WBO) and The Ring Magazine super bantamweight champion Guillermo “The Jackal” Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KOs) is encouraged by reports that World Boxing Council (WBC) title-holder Leo Santa Cruz’ promoter, Oscar de la Hoya, believes a Rigondeaux-Santa Cruz unification fight has to happen.
The 34-year-old Rigondeaux, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has been restricted to Asia for his last two fights, subsequently in low-profile matches, due to the lack of desire by any world-class super bantamweight to challenge the Cuban star.
As we settle in for 2015, it’s customary for the boxing fraternity and fans alike to state their hopes and wishes for the year ahead. Essentially dream fights which we hope will be made, which against all logic are not likely to happen. There are a few that spring to mind immediately, an end to the Floyd Mayweather/ Manny Pacquiao saga, Andre Ward v Gennady Golovkin (catch weight), Sergey Kovalev v Adonis Stevenson and of course Alex Ariza v a peak Mike Tyson.
On this occasion I have chosen to air on the side of caution and focus my attentions on an occurrence of a more realistic persuasion, which would be the collision of the current crop of Super Bantamweight World Champions. In Guillermo Rigondeaux, Leo Santa-Cruz, Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg, the division finds itself on the cusp of greatness. Greatness it enjoyed almost 15 years previous when Erik Morales won a split decision over Marco Antonio Barrera in what is widely considered one of the greatest fights of all time. Right now we have four fighters, boasting a collective 92-0-3 (61KO’s) record and a blend of styles capable of producing a series of fights that will define each of their careers.
WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KOs) is talking about wanting to fight WBA/WBO 122 pound champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (14-0, 9 KOs) in the near future in a unification match.
Rigondeaux has been taunting Santa Cruz and giving him grief on twitter by saying that he’s terrified about wanting to get in the ring and face him. Santana says he wants to show Rigondeaux how unafraid he is by facing him. Needless to say, this is a very tough match-up for Santa Cruz, because Rigondeaux is the best fighter in the super bantamweight division by far.
“Guillermo (Rigondeaux). He’s the one who’s been calling me out saying that I’m scared,” Santa Cruz said. “I want to prove that I’m not scared. I know it’s a hard fight for me, but we don’t care. I want to give the fans what they want. I want to please them and if they’re happy, I’m happy.”