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The big action this weekend took place earlier today at Cotai Arena in Macao, China with WBA/WBO super bantam champ Guillermo Rigondeaux leading the way with a successful defense of his belts.
Hard-hitting Cuban southpaw Rigondeaux, 14-0 (9), didn’t take long to reinforce his status as the sharpest boxer on the planet with a first round dismantling of Thailand’s Sod “Kokiegym” Looknongyangtoy, 63-3-1 (28).
Looknongyangtoy came into the bout on the strength of 37 consecutive contests without a loss but a closer look at his CV reveals that the 37 year old had faced strictly pedestrain competition, a third of which didn’t have winning records.
The two occasions in which Looknongyangtoy did step up, in WBO super bantam title bouts against Daniel Ponce De Leon, the Pechaboon based lefty was beaten on points in 2005 before being KO’d in one round in 2006.
And this qualifies Looknongyangtoy to somehow contend for a genuine world title?
This one looked like a complete mismatch on the way in and once the bell rang, the gulf in ability between Rigondeaux and Looknongyangtoy was very apparent.
Rigondeaux anticipated every movement the challenger made and avoided trouble with a formidable defense of pinpoint reflexes and footwork.
Within seconds, Rigondeaux was already landing meaty shots that were shaking Looknongyangtoy, who then managed to inadvertantly slam his forehead into the champions after missing a punch.
The Thai immediately rolled on the ropes, complaining to the referee, who gave Looknongyangtoy a brief once over before calling for a resumption of the bout.
Rigondeaux advanced, touched gloves with Looknongyangtoy and immediately nailed him with a lethal one-two combination that ended the challenger’s ambition at 1:44 of the first round.
Headbutt or no headbutt, this fight was not going to last very long and “Kokiegym” was spared a lot of punishment with the outcome.
WBC super bantam champ Leo Santa Cruz is scheduled to defend in September against TBA. We can only hope that slot is filled by Rigondeaux, who would likely add a third title belt to his collection.
The undercard in Macao saw former two-weight world champion Brian Viloria, 34-4 (20), KO the outgunned Jose Alfredo Zuniga, 11-6-1 (5), at flyweight while hammer-fisted NABF super middle titlist Gilberto Ramirez Sanchez, 29-0 (23), rubbed out Junior Talipeau, 20-3-1 (7), in the first, adding the vacant WBO International strap.
Much-hyped Chinese two-time Olympic Gold Medallist Zou Shiming, 5-0 (1), was the actual headliner on the bill as promoter Top Rank continues their quest to capitalize on his popularity in China.
Flyweight Shiming faced Luis De La Rosa, 23-4-1 (13), who, on paper, appears to have a very formidable record as opposed to the novice Shiming until one lifts the lid on the resume to find out De La Rosa has only defeated three opponents with winning records and has lost to anyone of note he’s ever faced.
Still, De La Rosa proved he came to fight and gave Shiming some problems while absorbing a good bit of punishment, including a cut above an eye due to an accidental clash of heads.
Shiming proved to possess good combination punching skills, decent movement but stands too upright, particularly after punching, and took a handful of decent shots from De La Rosa, particularly in the early rounds.
Unless corrected, this will prove to be a very bad problem for Shiming should he continue up the ladder of competition.
