On paper, this is the best fight of all time: when Vasyl Lomachenko was born on the 9th day of Vasyl Lomachenko’s death. When Guillermo Rigondeaux meets Guillermo Rigondeaux in December (live on DAZN) the rags fly in Madison Square Garden in New York. On SPOX you will learn everything you need to know about the fight between the two super-technicians and where you can watch the duel live.
On 09. On December 13th, between “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko and “El Chacal” Rigondeaux, the WBO World Champion title in super featherweight is on the agenda, with over 700 victories in amateur fights with only about a dozen defeats. Now they’re both facing each other in the ring.
An outstanding year in boxing comes to an end and ends with a bang: reigning super featherweight champion Lomachenko from the Ukraine competes with super-bantamweight champion Rigondeaux from Cuba. Both are regarded as outstanding fighters in the history of amateur boxing and were able to wear the Olympic gold medal twice.
On the 15th. On September 9th, it was officially confirmed that the duel between the two Pound For-Pound stars will take place in New York City. Only two weeks later, the Madison Square Garden reported that there were less than 100 tickets for the fight. This makes the fight the biggest live spectacle in the history of the theatre. On eBay and StubHub all cards cost at least 200 Euro.
Unlike other super fights this year, such as Maryweather-McGregor, there is no clear favourite in advance, even though the reigning bantam weight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux against Lomachenko rises two weight classes to 130 pounds. Two absolutely exceptional talents meet in a mega-event and grab the title of the best pound to sound fighter.
The streaming service DAZN broadcasts the fight live. As a new customer, DAZN offers the first month free of charge. Afterwards you will see all the top leagues of European football, US sports, tennis, golf, motorsport and much more for 9.99 Euro per month. DAZN can be terminated monthly.
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic
Egis Klimas, manager of Vasyl Lomachenko, led the fight together with Bob Arum as a top-rank promoter:”I’m excited that Vasyl will be entering the ring again this year and I’m looking forward to it,”says Klimas.
Miguel Garcia, former world champion in the categories of lightweight, super featherweight and featherweight analyses the fight for FightHype:”These are both technically unbelievably good fighters. Lomachenko has the size advantage, but Rigodeaux is crazy about pure technology. Lomachenko should win the fight because of his experience and greatness, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Rigodeaux beat him.”
Roy Jones Jr, former champion in four weight classes:”That’s the big bang in December. I can’t wait, I love both fighters. Both are decorated with two gold medals, on paper this is the biggest fight of all time. From the technical point of view you won’t find two better boxers, Rigondeaux has to break the rhythm early with his hard blows with the left Lomachenko. Lomachenko will bet on his mighty endurance strokes so that Rigondeaux loses his balance in battle. Whoever is best placed to enforce his battle plan will win.”
Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine):”This will be a great fight for all boxing fans and the history of this sport. This fight will get the best out of us. Maybe this is the best New Year’s Eve gift for all the fans, believe me.”
Guillermo Rigondeaux (Cuba):”I had been thinking about fighting Lomachenko for a long time, but now I am all the more excited that it finally works out. I’m not a friend of long speeches, all the answers I want on the 9th day. December in New York in the ring. Weight classes don’t decide fights, the fighters themselves have to earn victories.”
After his triumphs at the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London, Lomachenko decided to say goodbye to amateur boxing and switch to professional boxing. Already in his second fight, Lomachenko wanted to crown himself as World Champion in featherweight and challenged the Mexican boxing veteran Orlando Salido. Although Lomachenko was able to score almost 20 strokes more than his opponent, the referees decided in favor of Salido.
Lomachenko, disappointed by the decision, decided to learn from it and make everything better. Since then, the Ukrainian has been unbeaten and won all of his subsequent eight professional fights.
In amateur fights, Lomachenko can look back on a unique record of 396 victories to defeat.
Rigondeaux had some difficulties on his way to professional boxing. After a number of early successes in amateur sport, the Cuban rose to become a national hero in his home country after winning two gold medals at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004.
This was to change abruptly when he and his team-mate Erislandy Lara attempted to escape from the 2007 Panamerican Games in Brazil. The VISAs left after the games, Rigondeaux and Lara were arrested by the Brazilian police for illegal residence.
The two did not apply for asylum in Brazil and received on their return received utterly negative words from Fidel Castro personally to hear. Bad words should not be the only consequence, however, as the Olympic hero Rigondeaux was banned from working in Cuba for the rest of his life.
But Rigondeaux did not keep his feet still and made another attempt to escape in 2009. He succeeded, this time he moved to Miami like thousands of Cubans before him.
After more than 460 victories in amateur boxing, Guillermo Rigondeaux won his first professional fight against the American Juan Noriega in 2009. In his seventh professional fight, he won the WBA Interim World Championship in Superbantamweight against Ricardo Cordoba from Panama and “El Chacal” defended the title against the previously unbeaten Irishman Willie Casey before heading for the title on 20 January. Rico Ramos won the full world championship against WBA title holder Rico Ramos on 1 January 2012. In total, Rigondeaux competed in 18 professional fights, eleven of which he won with a knockout and six by votes.
During his last fight against the Mexican Moises Flores there was a lot of controversy. Already in round one, Flores was knocked out after a hard blow, after which Rigondeaux won the first round with a knockout. by the referee. After viewing the TV pictures, sports commissioner Bob Bennett decided that the decisive blow did not take place until after the gong, but rated it as non-intentional and changed the fight result into a “No Decision”.
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