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Undefeated unified junior featherweight world champion and Cuban sensation Guillermo “El Chacal” Rigondeaux (13-0, 8 KOs), of Miami, Florida, has promised to provide “a lot of fireworks” when he defends his titles against Top-Five contender and two-time world title challenger Sod Looknongyantoy (63-2-1, 27 KOs), of Srithep, Thailand, this Saturday, July 19, at The Venetian Macao’s Cotai Arena.
Rigondeaux will need them if he is to derail the “Looknongyantoy Express,” who enters this fight riding a nine-year, 37-bout unbeaten streak.
Promoted by Top Rank and Sands China Ltd., in association with Tecate, All Star Boxing, Caribe Promotions and Foreman Boys Promotions, the Rigondeaux vs. Looknongyangtov world junior featherweight championship fight will be televised via same-day delay as the main event of Solo Boxeo Tecate on UniMás, beginning at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Guillermo Rigondeaux:
“I had a 10-week training camp with George Rubio where we focused on honing my combinations and power punching. I am taking nothing for granted with Looknongyantoy. He has an impressive record and he is a smart fighter.
“I intend to give UniMás and its boxing audience a great show. I plan to be more aggressive to be more impressive. But let me make this clear, I have been a world champion and an Olympic gold medalist for one reason – I do not make mistakes in the ring. I fight my fight, not my opponents’ fights. In baseball, great hitters do not swing at bad pitches.
“Hard training and discipline are my greatest assets as a fighter. I am dedicated to being the best boxer in the world and perfecting my technique. I am always the last man out of the gym in training camp. I never weigh more than 129 pounds between fights.
“I feel great and I think I can keep fighting at this elite level for many more years because I have never taken any punishment in the ring.
“I am frustrated that the two other champions in my division – Leo Santa Cruz and Kiko Martinez – will not step up to fight me in title unifications to determine the true world champion. I do not understand that mindset. How do you not want to prove you are the best? I do.
“Nonito Donaire did when we fought in our title unification battle in New York last year. The fans deserve better from Santa Cruz and Martinez. The media should be holding them accountable. A real champion fights and accepts the challenges from the best in his division.
“Back in the day, world champions accepted the top challenges. I get criticized by the media for my style of fighting. Maybe the media should be criticizing the champions who deny the fights boxing fans crave?”
Sod Looknongyantoy:
“I have eight years of Muay Thai fighting experience, including over 400 victories. That has helped me to become a good boxer. I bring vast experience and intelligence.
“I trained hard for this fight. I trained to fight the perfect fight because that is what it will take to beat Rigondeaux. I do not fear him. I am up to the challenge. I am prepared to defeat Rigondeaux. I am ready to become world champion.”
Remaining tickets for the Rigondeaux vs. Looknongyangtov world junior featherweight championship event can be purchased via Cotai Ticketing. Prices start at HKD/MOP 80, with ferry and hotel packages also available.
Rigondeaux (13-0, 8 KOs), of Miami, Florida, one of boxing’s top pound for pound fighters, returns to the ring making his 2014 debut. Last year he unified the WBA and WBO 122-pound titles by defeating 2012 Fighter of the Year Nonito Donaire on April 13, 2013, at a sold-out Radio City Music Hall in New York.
Rigondeaux thoroughly dominated Donaire via a unanimous decision victory, ending the Filipino Flash’s 12-year, 30-bout winning streak, as well as claiming his WBO junior featherweight title.
Rigondeaux had a stellar amateur career, winning Olympic gold medals in 2004 and 2000, World Amateur Championship titles in 2005 and 2001, and Pan American Games gold medals in 2005 and 2003, all at 119 pounds, before leaving Cuba to embark on a professional career which began in Miami in 2009.
In only his seventh professional fight where both fighters scored knockdowns, Rigondeaux captured the WBA interim super bantamweight title, winning a tough split decision over the vastly more experienced former world champion Ricardo Cordoba in 2010.
After successfully defending the interim title in 2011 with a first-round knockout of previously undefeated former European super bantamweight champion Willie Casey, Rigondeaux won the WBA world super bantamweight championship with a sixth-round knockout of previously undefeated defending champion Rico Ramos, January 20, 2012.
Rigondeaux has successfully defended that title four times since then, blasting out once-beaten Teon Kennedy in the fifth round, which included Kennedy suffering five knockdowns en route to the loss, and winning a dominant unanimous decision over once-beaten contender Roberto Marroquin, both in 2012, besting Donaire in their April 2013 title unification fight and most recently, defeating former two-time world champion Joseph Agbeko, December 7 via a dominant unanimous decision.
Looknongyantoy (63-2-1, 27 KOs), of Srithep, Thailand, has twice challenged for the WBO junior featherweight title, losing to Daniel Ponce De Leon both times, in 2005 and 2006.
Since then he has fashioned a nine -year, 37-bout unbeaten streak, which has included Asian, WBO Asia-Pacific and WBA Pan Asian 122-pound title victories. Possessing a style that features good skills and movement, he is currently world-rated No. 5 by the WBO and No. 10 by the WBA.
