Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz (ɡiˈʎermo riɣonˈdo; born September 30, 1980 in Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba

Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....

) is a Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n boxer who won the gold medal at the 2000

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

and 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

in the Bantamweight

Bantamweight

Bantamweight is usually a class in boxing for boxers who weigh above 115 pounds and up to 118 pounds . However, in Mixed Martial Arts it is 134-136 pounds . Wrestling also has similar weight classes including bantamweight...

(54 kg) class. Rigondeaux is a seven-time (2000–06) Cuban national champion at bantamweight. He currently claims an amateur record of nearly 400 fights with twelve losses; with his last losses coming to Rencise Perez and Bekzat Sattarkhanov

Bekzat Sattarkhanov

Bekzat Sattarkhanov was a Kazakh boxer who competed in the men's featherweight division at the 2000 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal....

in 1998, Waldemar Font in 1999, and his most recent loss against Aghasi Mammadov

Aghasi Mammadov

Aghasi Mammadov is an Azerbaijani boxer who competed in the bantamweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal.- Career :...

in 2003. After his defection

Defection

In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...

in 2009, he turned professional and in his 8th bout became WBA

World Boxing Association

The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...

Interim

Interim is an album by British rock band The Fall, compiled from live and studio material and released in 2004. It features the first officially released versions of "Clasp Hands", "Blindness" and "What About Us?" — all of which were later included on the band's next studio album Fall Heads Roll —...

Super Bantamweight

Super bantamweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 122 pounds, or roughly 55.34 kilograms....

Champion of the World.. Guillermo Rigondeaux is widely considered to be one of the greatest amateur fighters of all time.

Filmmaker Brin-Jonathan Butler is making a documentary about Guillermo.

Olympic results

2000

Defeated Moez Zemzeni
Moez Zemzeni
Moez Zemzemi is a boxer from Tunisia. He represented his native North African country at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. There he was stopped in the first round of the men's bantamweight competition by Cuba's eventual gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux.-References:*...

(Tunisia) KO 1
Defeated Kazumasa Tsujimoto
Kazumasa Tsujimoto
is a retired male boxer from Japan. He represented his native country twice at the Summer Olympics: in 1996 and 2000. After having competed in the men's flyweight division in Atlanta, Georgia he changed weights, and fought in the bantamweight class in Sydney, Australia...

(Japan) RSC 3
Defeated Agasi Agaguloglu (Turkey) 14-5
Defeated Clarence Vinson
Clarence Vinson
Clarence Adam Vinson is an American boxer. Nicknamed "Untouchable", Vinson won the bantamweight bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.-Amateur career:...

(United States) 18-6
Defeated Raimkul Malakhbekov
Raimkul Malakhbekov
Raimkul Khudoynazarovich Malakhbekov is one of highest titled boxers of Russia, who won two Olympic medals in the Men's Bantamweight category.- Biography :...

(Russia) 18-12

2004

Round of 32: Defeated Liu Yuan
Liu Yuan (boxer)
Liu Yuan is a male amateur boxer from PR China. He qualified to compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the bantamweight division where he lost in the first round to Cuba's eventual gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux.Liu qualified for the 2004 Athens Games as a bantamweight by ending up in second...

of China – PTS (21-7)
Round of 16: Defeated Mehar Ullah
Mehrullah Lassi
Mehrullah Lassi is a former Pakistani amateur boxer best known to win a gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games.-Career:Mehrullah who has five brothers and three sisters joined the Karachi Port Trust boxing club in 1995....

of Pakistan – RSC 3
Quarterfinals: Defeated Gennady Kovalev
Gennady Kovalev
Gennady Gennadiyevich Kovalev is a boxer from Russia.-Career:Southpaw Kovalev won the silver medal at the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships defeating Bahodirjon Sooltonov but losing to Aghasi Mammadov at bantam, and a gold medal at the 2004 European Amateur Boxing Championships .He...

of Russia – PTS (20-5)
Semifinals: Defeated Bahodirjon Sooltonov
Bahodirjon Sooltonov
Bahodirjon Sooltonov is an Uzbekistani boxer who competed in the bantamweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal.-Career:...

of Uzbekistan – PTS (27-13)
Gold Medal Match: Defeated Worapoj Petchkoom
Worapoj Petchkoom
Worapoj Petchkoom is a Thai boxer who competed in the bantamweight at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal losing to Cuban superstar Guillermo Rigondeaux. He qualified for the Athens Games by ending up in first place in the 2nd AIBA Asian 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in...

of Thailand – PTS (22-13)

Other amateur achievements

2000 Cuban national amateur champion - bantamweight
2001 Cuban national amateur champion - bantamweight
2001 World amateur champion - bantamweight (in Belfast, Northern Ireland)
- Defeated Kazumasa Tsujimoto
  Kazumasa Tsujimoto
  is a retired male boxer from Japan. He represented his native country twice at the Summer Olympics: in 1996 and 2000. After having competed in the men's flyweight division in Atlanta, Georgia he changed weights, and fought in the bantamweight class in Sydney, Australia...
  
  (Japan) RSC 2
- Defeated Reidar Walstad (Norway) RSC 2
- Defeated Artur Mikaelian (Greece) 24-8
- Defeated Sergey Danilchenko
  Sergey Danilchenko
  Sergey Danilchenko was a Ukrainian boxer, who won an Bantamweight Bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. A year later, at the 2001 World Amateur Boxing Championships, he won the bronze medal in the same division....
  
  (Ukraine) 15-6
- Defeated Aghasi Mammadov
  Aghasi Mammadov
  Aghasi Mammadov is an Azerbaijani boxer who competed in the bantamweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal.- Career :...
  
  (Turkey) 30-24
2002 Cuban national amateur champion - bantamweight
2002 World Cup champion - bantamweight (in Astana, Kazakhstan)
- Defeated Justin Kane
  Justin Kane
  Justin Stewart Kane is a bantamweight boxer from Australia, who won the gold medal in the men's bantamweight division at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom...
  
  (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 champion - bantamweight
2003 competed as a bantamweight at World championships in Bangkok, Thailand. Results were:
- Defeated Andrzej Liczik
  Andrzej Liczik
  Andrzej Liczik is a boxer from Poland.He participated at the 2004 Summer Olympics for his native country...
  
  (Poland) 15-1
- Lost to Aghasi Mammadov
  Aghasi Mammadov
  Aghasi Mammadov is an Azerbaijani boxer who competed in the bantamweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal.- Career :...
  
  (Azerbaijan) 13-16
2003 Bantamweight gold medalist at Pan-American games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- Defeated Argenis Mendez Zapata (Dominican Republic) 17-2
- Defeated Alexander Espinoza
  Alexander Espinoza
  Alexander Espinoza Hernández is a bantamweight boxer from Venezuela, who represented his native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. He qualified for the Olympic Games by ending up in second place at the 2nd AIBA American 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil...
  
  (Venezuela) RSC 2
- Defeated Andrew Kooner
  Andrew Kooner
  Andrew Singh Kooner is a Canadian boxer.-Amateur career:Andrew Kooner moved to Tecumseh, Ontario at a young age and began boxing at age 13 out of a Windsor boxing club. At the 2000 Summer Olympics he lost in the 2nd round in the flyweight division...
  
  (Canada) 22-2
- Defeated Abner Mares
  Abner Mares
  Abner Mares Martínez is an undefeated Mexican professional boxer in the Bantamweight division. Abner medaled repeatedly in international amateur tournaments for Mexico. Mares grew up in the city of Hawaiian Gardens, California.-Amateur career:As an amateur, Mares compiled a record of 112-8 with 84...
  
  (Mexico) 17-7
2004 Cuban national amateur champion - bantamweight
2005 Cuban national amateur champion - bantamweight
2005 World amateur champion at bantamweight in competition held in Mianyang, PR China
- Defeated Vladislav Sokolov (Latvia) RTD 2
- Defeated Ougonchulun Batkhuu (Mongolia) RSC
- Defeated Bahodirjon Sooltonov
  Bahodirjon Sooltonov
  Bahodirjon Sooltonov is an Uzbekistani boxer who competed in the bantamweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal.-Career:...
  
  (Uzbekistan) RSC 3
- Defeated Ali Hallab
  Ali Hallab
  Ali Hallab is a boxer from France. He is best known for having won the bronze medal at the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships.-Career:...
  
  (France) 37-23
- Defeated Rustamhodza Rahimov
  Rustamhodza Rahimov
  Rustamhodza Rahimov is a boxer from Germany, but of Tajik origins, as his name suggests.- Medals :* In the 2004 Summer Olympics Rahimov won a bronze medal in the flyweight boxing event. He was 29....
  
  (Germany) 19-9
2005 Bantamweight gold medalist at World Cup in Moscow, Russia.
- Defeated Worapoj Petchkoom
  Worapoj Petchkoom
  Worapoj Petchkoom is a Thai boxer who competed in the bantamweight at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal losing to Cuban superstar Guillermo Rigondeaux. He qualified for the Athens Games by ending up in first place in the 2nd AIBA Asian 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in...
  
  (Thailand) 34-16
- Defeated Zsolt Bedák
  Zsolt Bedák
  Zsolt Bedák is a Hungarian boxer. His younger brother Pál Bedák is a flyweight boxer.-Amateur career:*2001 Bedák won bronze at the European Junior Championships....
  
  (Romania) 28-11
- Defeated Murat Aiyrmasov (Kazakhstan) 34-7
- Defeated Maksim Khalikov (Russia) 37-21
2006 Cuban national amateur champion
2006 Bantamweight gold medalist at Central American Games in Cartagena, Colombia
- Defeated Juan Velasquez
  Juan Velásquez
  Juan Velásquez is a retired Peruvian footballer.-Club career:Velásquez played for a number of clubs in Peru, including Alianza Atlético and Sport Boys in the Peruvian First Division.-International career:...
  
  (Puerto Rico) 10-1
- Defeated Jhonatan Romero (Colombia) walk-over
- Defeated Arturo Santos Reyes
  Arturo Santos Reyes
  José Arturo Santos Reyes , is a Mexican amateur boxer best known to win silver at the world junior championships 2004 at flyweight and qualify for the Olympics 2008 at featherweight.-Amateur career:...
  
  (Mexico) 14-3
2006 Bantamweight gold medalist at Nations Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan
- Defeated Mirzhan Rakhimzhanov
  Mirzhan Rakhimzhanov
  Mirzhan Beybutovich Rakhimzhanov is a male boxer from Kazakhstan. He competed for his native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, where he was stopped in the second round of the men's flyweight division by Russia's Georgy Balakshin.Rakhimzhanov qualified for the Athens Games by...
  
  (Kazakhstan) 28-10
- Defeated Rau'shee Warren (United States) 21-17
- Defeated Elshad Guliyev (Azerbaijan) walk-over
- Defeated Ali Aliyev
  Ali Aliyev (boxer)
  Ali Aliyev is a Russian amateur boxer best known for winning theEuropean title in 2006.His country sent his countryman and eventual winner Sergey Vodopyanov to the world championship 2007....
  
  (Russia) RSC 3

Defection

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

Odlanier Solis

Odlanier Solís Fonte is a Cuban professional boxer. He won the Olympic Gold medal in Athens 2004 and was a three time winner at the World Amateur Boxing Championships.-Amateur career:...

, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Yan Barthelemy, who defected earlier in 2007. As with the other Cuban defectors, Rigondeaux signed a promotional deal with Ahmet Oener and ARENA Box-Promotion. However on August 2, Rigondeaux and Lara were taken into police custody in Brazil, stating that they wanted to return home to Cuba. Then Cuban leader Fidel Castro has stated that Rigondeaux and Lara will not box again for the Cuban team. In February 2009, Rigondeaux defected again via Mexico City to Miami, and signed with ARENA Box.

Professional

On February 23, 2009, Rigondeaux was announced to have defected along with 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist Yudel Johnson, Yordanis Despaigne

Yordanis Despaigne

Yordanis Despaigne Herrera is a Cuban professional boxer who, as an amateur boxer, has medaled repeatedly in international tournaments as a middleweight.-Career:...

and Yuniel Dorticos and is now in Miami with a contract in Gary Hyde. He will be training in the same gym as Yuriorkis Gamboa, Erislandi Lara

Erislandi Lara

Erislandy Lara Santoya is a Cuban boxer. The southpaw was the 2005 amateur world champion at welterweight.-Amateur career:In 2003 and 2004 Lara lost four times against double world champ Lorenzo Aragon....

and Odlanier Solis

Odlanier Solis

Odlanier Solís Fonte is a Cuban professional boxer. He won the Olympic Gold medal in Athens 2004 and was a three time winner at the World Amateur Boxing Championships.-Amateur career:...

. and will continue his career as a professional once he completes all the residency requirements. He left behind his wife Farah Colina, a 7 year old son and a 17 year old stepson in Cuba. He is also reportedly staying in the home of countryman and featherweight contender Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Rigondeaux won his first professional fight on May 22 with a third-round TKO over Juan Noriega in Miami. Although he did not maintain a busy punch volume, Rigondeaux still landed hard shots. Noriega barely countered Rigondeaux's punches and the referee found the opportunity to stop the fight after Rigondeaux connected with a solid right to the head. On July 17 he won his second pro fight against Robert Guillen by first round ko. Rigondeaux wasn't active but he hit Guillen with a great hard counter punch to the body which left him rolling on the canvas in pain.

On September 18, Rigondeaux beat Giovanni Andrade by 3rd round TKO to win the NABA

Naba

Naba may refer to:*Al Naba'ah, an areas of the emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates*An-Naba, the 78th sura of the Qur'an*Mogho Naba, King of the Mossi, an ethnic group in Burkina Faso...

Super Bantamweight title.

On December 16, 2009 Rigondeaux won a Unanimous Decision over Lante Addy in 8 rounds.

On February 5, 2010, Rigondeaux scored a 1st round Knockout against Adolfo Landeros.

Fight against Ricardo Cordoba

This fight was on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs Antonio Margarito WBC Light Middleweight Title fight at Cowboys Stadium, Dallas, in front of 70,000 people. This was the biggest fight in Rigondeaux's career to date. Rigondeaux knocked Cordoba down in the 4th with a body shot, but was judged to be knocked down in turn in the 6th, in what appeared to be a slip. Despite appearing to win clearly, the fight was judged a split decision, with Rigondeaux the victor and becoming a world champion in his 8th bout (though interim

Interim

) winning the WBA

World Boxing Association

Super Bantamweight

Super bantamweight is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 122 pounds, or roughly 55.34 kilograms....

title.

Professional record

Rico Ramos

Rico Dashon Ramos is an American Super Bantamweight boxer of Puerto Rican descent. He is the current WBA world super bantamweight champion.-Amateur career:...

Willie Casey

Willie Casey is an Irish professional boxer who lives in Limerick, Ireland. He won the Prizefighter series in May 2010 in the super bantamweight division, defeating Mark Moran, Josh Wale and Paul McElhinney...

Ricardo Cordoba

Ricardo Alberto Cordoba Mosque, more commonly known as Ricardo Cordoba, is a Panamanian professional boxer who fights in the super bantamweight division.-Professional career:...

External links

Olympic profile

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