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Which Jackal Rigondeaux Will Casimero Fight on August 14? By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Thu, 15 Jul 2021  Despite his advancing age, he is reportedly already 42 years old, Cuban defensive boxing maestro, Guillermo Rigondeaux, known as The Jackal, remains a very enigmatic phenomenal fighter especially in and around the bantamweight. His last two fights in particular were quizzical but could probably provide an inkling of what Jackal Rigondeaux will come out of his corner on August 14 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson City, California in a bid not only to win the WBO bantamweight crown from Johnriel Casimero but also put him firmly in the mix or sweepstakes in the quest for the one true world champion at 118 lbs. In his last fight, still at super bantamweight, on June 23, 2019, Rigondeaux took on the rugged, big punching Mexican Julio Ceja, noted for trading knockout wins with the ever dangerous Hugo Ruiz, in a final WBC title eliminator at 122 lbs. Expected to hit and move as his usual strategy, Rigondeaux surprised everybody including Ceja by planting his feet firmly from the opening bell and gamely trading punches and bombs against the bigger and taller Mexican banger. To the delight of the live spectators at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, the two went at it for eight straight rounds until Rigo exploded with a powerful 1-2 that suddenly fell Ceja near the end of the eighth. Referee Russell Mora started to issue the mandatory eight count on Ceja who unsteadily rose to his feet but he could have seen something that prompted him to stop the contest and declare Rigo as winner by technical knockout. Intriguingly, Ceja was leading on all score cards when Mora stopped the fight to the Mexican's rather tame protestations. In the post fight interview, Rigo said he fought the way he did to surprise Ceja and silence the critics who expected him to ride the bicycle towards points victory. Actually, he fought the way he did because he knew he could sustain it. At 122, Rigo could rehydrate and be as strong as a featherweight or even a super featherweight. He had done it in his failed try against Vasiliy Lomachenko at super featherweight. Except that Loma at that level was capable of rehydration and be as strong and powerful as a lightweight or even a super lightweight. Strangely, Rigo said he could still make the bantamweight limit of 118 lbs and even go down to super flyweight or 115 lbs as he expressed his desire to win world titles in those marquee and purse rich divisions against the likes of Inoue, Casimero, Donaire as well as Juan Francisco Estrada and Chicolatito Gonzales. Eerily, Donaire had earlier made such claim himself and actually did it winning again a world title at bantamweight during the WBSS tournament. When Inoue become WBA super champion at the expense of Donaire, the WBS regular title became vacant and Rigo expressed his desire to vie for it which the WBA willingly acceded to. (Interestingly, it was Ceja who went on to challenge Brandon Figueroa for his WBC super bantamweight title but lost by split decision in late 2019) This brings us to Rigo's second fight and his first at bantamweight against Venezuela's Liborio Solis, a former world super flyweight titleholder who has moved up in weight, for the WBA regular bantamweight trinket. That fight happened in February 2020 in Pennsylvania, USA before the still ongoing Covid pandemic occurred and stopped among others professional boxing worldwide for a time. Rigondeaux tried the strategy he used versus Ceja against Liborio Solis going flat-footed and toe to toe in the first round but to his horror and shock, Solis roughed him up and nearly knocked him down. From the second round on, Rigo was back in his bicycle, sticking and moving and timing Solis as the Venezuelan aggressively went forward on the attack and trying to force the fight on the Cuban. In the middle round, Rigo managed to nail Solis with the ropes only preventing Solis from falling down. The referee correctly ruled a knockdown and that enabled Rigo to gain the advantage although the fight remained very close. In the end with Rigondeaux ably defending and landing more clearly, he was awarded a split decision victory over Solis making him the new WBA regular bantamweight champion. What happened in this his first bantamweight fight? Obviously, it was his first fight below 122 lbs and he naturally experienced difficulty in adjusting fighting at this new lower weight level. The dictum that fighting below your usual weight class makes you weaker and makes your opponent who is moving up in weight stronger holds true in this case. During the official weighin Rigondeaux tipped the scale at 117 lbs while Solis made the limit of 118. But at fight time, Rigondeaux rehydrated to only 121 while Solis came in 127 or even beyond the featherweight limit. Being taller, Solis ably carried the extra weight better which made him stronger than Rigondeaux who was even a pound lighter than his old usual fighting weight. That could have accounted for the power disparity between the two. Hence, faced with a taller and stronger foe, Rigondeux had to resort to his old strategy of hitting and moving, hit and not get hit. Which strangely, he did not do versus Lomachenko at 130 where he was decidedly at disadvantage. Perhaps at that higher weight level, he felt stronger. And inversely, at lower weight level, even below the weight he was used to fighting most of his pro boxing career, he feels less strong and powerful. Hence, the bicycle. This perhaps is something the Casimero camp ought to look into thoroughly in their preparation and strategizing against the enigmatic Cuban boxing phenomenon/sleek defensive master. The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.  |
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