Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz
Name: Guillermo Rigondeaux
Alias: El Chacal
Birth Name: Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz
Hometown: Miami, Florida, USA
Birthplace: Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
Stance: Southpaw
Height: 170cm
Reach: 171cm
Pro Boxer: Record
Amateur Boxer: Record
- Trainers: Freddie Roach, Ronnie Shields, Ismael Salas, Jorge Rubio, Pedro Luis Diaz
- Manager: Gary Hyde (2009-)
- Promoters: ARENA Box-Promotion (2009-), Roc Nation Sports and Caribe Promotions (co-promoter)
Professional Record
- 9 opponents (6 by KO) beaten in world championship bouts.
- Has a record of 9-2-0 (6 KOs) in World Title fights.
- Has a record of 6-2-0 (2 KOs) against former or current world champions:
- Won against Ricardo Cordoba, Rico Ramos, Nonito Donaire, Joseph Agbeko, Julio Ceja, and Liborio Solis.
- Lost against Vasyl Lomachenko, and John Riel Casimero.
Career Overview
Guillermo Rigondeaux was one of the most decorated amateurs in the history of boxing. Competing in the bantamweight (54 kg) class, he won seven Cuban national championships (2000-2006), two Olympic gold medals (2000 & 2004), and two amateur world championships (2001 & 2005). Rigondeux claimed an amateur record of 463-12. His last losses came against Rencise Perez and Bekzat Sattarkhanov in 1998, Waldemar Font in 1999, and Agasi Mamedov in 2003.
On July 22, 2007, Rigondeaux and teammate Erislandy Lara failed to appear for their scheduled bouts at the Pan American Games in Brazil. It was initially announced that Rigondeaux was to turn professional, joining fellow 2004 Cuban Olympians Odlanier Solis, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Yan Barthelemy, who defected earlier in 2007. However, Rigondeaux and Lara were taken into police custody three days later for overstaying their visas and sent back to Cuba. Rigondeaux and Lara insisted they never intended to defect, but German promoter Ahmet Oener of ARENA Box-Promotion said they signed professional contracts. Cuban leader Fidel Castro said at the time that neither would again be included on the national team because "the Cuban athlete who deserts his delegation is like a soldier who deserts his unit in the midst of combat."
Rigondeaux was able to successfully defect in February 2009. He was taken out of Cuba on a cramped smuggler’s boat and delivered to Miami, where he joined Lara, who had defected the previous June. Both signed promotional deals with ARENA Box.
In only his seventh professional bout, Rigondeaux won the interim WBA super bantamweight title with a twelve-round split decision against Ricardo Cordoba on November 13, 2010.
Rigondeaux captured the full WBA super bantamweight title on January 20, 2012 by knocking out Rico Ramos with a body shot in round six.
In April 2013, Rigondeux upset Nonito Donaire by a twelve-round unanimous decision to unify the WBA and WBO super bantamweight titles.
Trainer Freddie Roach said of Rigondeaux: "He's probably the greatest talent I've ever seen."
Amateur Highlights
- Amateur Record: 463-12 (As confirmed by Rigondeaux to his manager Gary Hyde)
- 2000 Cuban National Amateur Bantamweight Champion.
- 2000 Olympic Bantamweight Gold Medalist in Sydney, Australia. Results:
- Defeated Moez Zemzemi (Tunisia) KO 1
- Defeated Kazumasa Tsujimoto (Japan) RSC 3
- Defeated Agasi Agaguloglu (Turkey) 14-5
- Defeated Clarence Vinson (United States) 18-6
- Defeated Raimkul Malakhbekov (Russia) 18-12
- 2001 Cuban National Amateur Bantamweight Champion.
- 2001 World Amateur Bantamweight Champion in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Results:
- Defeated Kazumasa Tsujimoto (Japan) RSC 2
- Defeated Reidar Walstad (Norway) RSC 2
- Defeated Artur Mikaelian (Greece) 24-8
- Defeated Sergey Danilchenko (Ukraine) 15-6
- Defeated Agasi Mamedov (Russia) 30-24
- 2002 Cuban National Amateur Bantamweight Champion.
- 2002 World Cup Bantamweight Champion in Astana, Kazakhstan. Results:
- Defeated Justin Kane (Australia) RSC 1
- Defeated Keren Gurgen (Turkey) RSC 1
- Defeated Chotipat Wongprates (Thailand) 13-2
- Defeated Toljen Kanatov (Kazkhstan) 7-6
- 2003 Cuban National Amateur Bantamweight Champion.
- 2003 Cuban bantamweight representative competed at the World championships in Bangkok, Thailand. Results:
- Defeated Andrzej Liczik (Poland) 15-1
- Lost to Agasi Mamedov (Russia) 13-16
- 2003 Pan-American Games Bantamweight Gold Medalist in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Results:
- Defeated Argenis Mendez (Dominican Republic) 17-2
- Defeated Alexander Espinoza (Venezuela) RSC 2
- Defeated Andrew Kooner (Canada) 22-2
- Defeated Abner Mares (Mexico) 17-7
- 2004 Cuban National Amateur Bantamweight Champion.
- 2004 Olympic Bantamweight Gold Medalist in Athens, Greece. Results:
- Defeated Liu Yuan of China - PTS (21-7)
- Defeated Mehar Ullah of Pakistan - RSC 3
- Defeated Gennady Kovalev of Russia - PTS (20-5)
- Defeated Bahodirjon Sultonov of Uzbekistan - PTS (27-13)
- Defeated Worapoj Petchkoom of Thailand - PTS (22-13)
- 2005 Cuban National Amateur Bantamweight Champion.
- 2005 World Cup Bantamweight Gold Medalist in Moscow Russia. Results:
- Defeated Worapoj Petchkoom (Thailand) 34-16
- Defeated Zsolt Bedak (Hungary) 28-11
- Defeated Murat Aiyrmasov (Kazakhstan) 34-7
- Defeated Maksim Khalikov (Russia) 37-21
- 2005 World Amateur Bantamweight Champion in Mianyang, China. Results:
- Defeated Vladislav Sokolov (Latvia) RTD 2
- Defeated Ougonchulun Batkhuu (Mongolia) RSC
- Defeated Bahodirjon Sultonov (Uzbekistan) RSC 3
- Defeated Ali Hallab (France) 37-23
- Defeated Rustamhodza Rachimov (Germany) 19-9
- 2006 Cuban National Amateur Bantamweight Champion.
- 2006 Central American Games Bantamweight Gold Medalist in Cartagena, Colombia. Results:
- Defeated Juan Carlos Velasquez (Puerto Rico) 10-1
- Defeated Jhonatan Romero (Colombia) walk-over
- Defeated Arturo Santos Reyes (Mexico) 14-3
- 2006 Nations Cup Bantamweight Gold Medalist in Baku, Azerbaijan. Results:
- Defeated Mirzhan Rakhimzhanov (Kazakhstan) 28-10
- Defeated Rau'shee Warren (United States) 21-17
- Defeated Elshad Guliyev (Azerbaijan) walk-over
- Defeated Ali Aliyev (Russia) RSC 3
Regional & Minor Titles
- NABA Super Bantamweight Title (September 2009)
- Interim WBA Super Bantamweight Title (November 2010 - January 2012)
- WBA 'Regular' Bantamweight Title (February 2020 - August 2021)
World Titles
- Lineal World Super Bantamweight Championship (won via UD12 Nonito Donaire, 13th April 2013 - present); seven defenses.
Rigondeaux still claims the Lineal Championship at 122lbs as per his Twitter account and other comments. He has not lost the title in the Ring and despite him no longer holding The Ring Magazine Championship he is nevertheless still "the man that beat the man".
- The Ring Magazine World Super Bantamweight Championship (13th April 2013 - Feb 2016); four defenses.
Rigondeaux was stripped of this title in line with The Ring's requirement for their Champion to defend the title against at least one top-5 rated opponent every 18 months. It should be noted that Rigondeaux was somewhat avoided in his prime. Frampton and Quigg elected to fight each another in February 2016 and Santa Cruz earlier moved up to Featherweight when all had opportunities to fight for the Lineal Championship.
| Preceded by: Rico Ramos |
WBA Super Bantamweight Champion 2012 Jan 20 – 2013 Apr 13 Upgraded to Unified Champion 2013 Apr 13 – 2015 Oct Unified Champion Declared Champion in Recess 2015 Oct – 2016 May Champion in Recess 2016 May – 2018 Jan 2 Super Champion Stripped |
Succeeded by: Scott Quigg Regular Champion |
| Preceded by: Nonito Donaire |
WBO Super Bantamweight Champion 2013 Apr 13 – 2015 Oct Stripped |
Succeeded by: Nonito Donaire |