Rigondeaux to fight on undercard of Tim Bradley’s first defense on December 15th

By ESB - 09/29/2012 - Comments

By Dwight Chittenden: WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) will be defending his title against an opponent still to be determined on December 15th on the undercard of WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley’s first defense of his World Boxing Organization title in an HBO televised fight at the Marlin’s Stadium in Miami, Florida, according to USA Today.

Rigondeaux, who will be turning 32 on Sunday, is coming off of a 12 round unanimous decision win over fringe contender Robert Marroquin on September 15th of this month. It wasn’t the best performance from Rigondeaux, who was staggered twice by the bigger, younger and stronger Marroquin. Rigondeaux had problems with Marroquin’s powerful left hook, although he rarely got hit with it during the fight. It was just that when the punch did land, Rigondeaux had problems taking it.

It’s anyone’s guess who Top Rank will match Rigondeaux up with for this fight. He’d like to get a shot against IBF/WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire but this far that fight hasn’t been made by Top Rank. Some boxing fans feel that Donaire is being kept away from Rigondeaux in order to keep the money train moving for Donaire, because he’s a lot more popular than Rigoondeaux is in the U.S.

Bradley has a couple of opponents he could face for the December 15th fight. WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero, Ruslan Provodnikov and Lamont Peterson are all potential opponents for Bradley. However, Guerrero is considered to the the leading candidate for the Bradley fight. If Guerrero doesn’t get the fight then it’s highly likely that WBO light welterweight contender Provodnikov will step up in weight to take the fight with Bradley. It’s an awful fight, though, because Provodnikov isn’t all that great of a fighter and would stand little chance against Bradley.

Also on the card will be Top Rank stable fighter unbeaten light heavyweight prospect Mike Lee.