Despite the contrasting stages of their professional careers, Miami residents Glen Johnson and Guillermo Rigondeaux recognize their next bouts’ similarities in significance.
A Johnson victory over Allan Green in his super-middleweight bout Saturday night in Las Vegas could line the former light-heavyweight champion for additional lucrative paydays at a new weight division.
Rigondeaux, meanwhile, is making up for lost professional time. After dominating two Olympic cycles while representing his native Cuba, Rigondeaux, 30, wants to move up the professional ranks in rapid succession. Rigondeaux, a 2000 and 2004 Olympic gold medalist, will have the appealing platform to showcase his title aspirations in an undercard bout against Panama’s Ricardo Cordoba on Nov. 13 on the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito pay-per-view telecast.
“My two gold medals have opened this door for me so I am looking forward to winning a world championship,” Rigondeaux said in a recent conference call.
Rigondeaux is 6-0 with five knockouts since defecting from Cuba in early 2009. Legal problems involving his promotional rights have prevented Rigondeaux from a busier professional schedule. But Rigondeaux believes his lengthy amateur background, which exceeds 400 bouts, will help withstand the possible rigors of his scheduled 12-round super-bantamweight bout against Cordoba.
Johnson’s professional career spans 20 years. For the past 10 years, Johnson has been among boxing’s best light heavyweights, including his breakout year in 2004, when he won the International Boxing Federation title and also defeated Roy Jones Jr. and Antonio Tarver.
But after his unsuccessful title bid against IBF champion Tavoris Cloud on Aug. 8, Johnson made a not-so-routine career move.
Johnson joined the Showtime Super Six World Boxing Classic, a tournament featuring super-middleweight fighters. The event has been hampered by departures of three of the original fighters. Johnson replaced Mikke Kessler, who withdrew because of an eye injury.
“When the possibility to be a part of [the tournament] came up, I was extremely excited,” Johnson said. “I immediately started doing what I need to do to get down to the weight.”
Johnson, 41, does not anticipate problems in the reduction to the 168-pound super-middleweight limit. Although Johnson (50-14-2, 34 knockouts) joined the tournament in its third and final group stage, he could reach the semifinals with a knockout victory.
UNDERDOG ROLE
Johnson and Cordoba are training for their bouts at the Thump Gym in Kendall.
A native of Panama and former super-bantamweight world champion, Cordoba is comfortable with the underdog role many in the sport have tagged him in the weeks leading to the Rigondeaux fight.
“I know that I will enter the fight as the unknown opponent, but that doesn’t bother me at all,” Cordoba said. “This is an opportunity to break into the American boxing market, fighting on the same pay-per-view as Manny Pacquiao, when many people will be watching.”
Cordoba (32-2-2, 23 KOs) has won three consecutive fights since losing a punishing 11th-round technical knockout against Bernard Dunne in a vacant title bout last year.
