By Keith Idec
Guillermo Rigondeaux respects the outstanding work Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz produced Saturday night.
The WBA super world super bantamweight champion made it clear, though, that he wants an opportunity to travel to Belfast for a fight against Frampton. The newly crowned WBA super world featherweight champion from Northern Ireland said in the immediate aftermath of his majority decision victory over Santa Cruz at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center that he would welcome a rematch with Santa Cruz in Belfast or an all-United Kingdom showdown with Wales’ Lee Selby, the IBF featherweight title-holder.
Rigondeaux didn’t waste any time thrusting himself into that mix, though.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba Tweeted: I would love to fight in Belfast myself. He previously Tweeted: Congratulations to @CarlFrampton. I hope now we can settle our difference. I am available to travel to your hometown [Belfast] and do it there.
The 35-year-old Rigondeaux also Tweeted: I am not going to criticize @leosantacruz2. The kid have a heart and he did all he could vs a guy that was obviously a better boxer.
After Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) defeated England’s Scott Quigg (31-1-2, 23 KOs) by split decision in their 12-rounder February 27 in Manchester, the WBA ordered Frampton to make a defense of his WBA super world super bantamweight championship against Rigondeaux in his next bout by July 27. Frampton was stripped of that title because he instead decided to move up to challenge Santa Cruz for a version of the WBA’s 126-pound championship.
Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs), whom the WBA had stripped of its 122-pound title due to inactivity, was awarded that title again after Frampton relinquished it. He defended it July 16, when Rigondeaux broke the jaw of England’s James Dickens (22-2, 7 KOs), who couldn’t continue after the second round in Cardiff, Wales.
The WBA has since ordered Rigondeaux to make a mandatory defense against Mexico’s Moises Flores (25-0, 17 KOs), its interim 122-pound title-holder.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
