By Bill Phanco: Fighting on the undercard of Nonito Donaire vs. Jorge Arce on Saturday will be WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) in a really tough fight against 32-year-old Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym (48-2, 33 KO’s) at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. This is a fight that is a lot tougher than the one that Donaire will have against Arce. Poonsawat is the type of fighter that throws of shots with a really good power, and he could give Rigondeaux all he can handle in this fight unless Rigondeaux can find a perfect shot to take Poonsawat out.
Rigondeaux had problems in winning his last fight against Robert Marroquin last September at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. While Rigondeaux won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision by lopsided scores, he was hurt by several of Marroquin’s big hooks. That’s not a good sign for Rigondeaux as he goes into a fight with an even better puncher in Poonsawat, who punches with better power and throws a lot more punches than Marroquin typically does.
If you were to pinpoint Rigondeaux’s biggest weakness you’d have to say it’s his low punch output. He doesn’t throw a lot of punches because he’s mostly just a counter puncher. He’s fine when he can hurt his opponent and take them out, but when he faces guys that throw a lot of shots like the case in his fight with Ricardo Cardoba, Rigondeaux struggles to win.
Poonsawat is the same kind of fighter as Cardoba, albeit without his height and reach. If Poonsawat can take the fight to Rigondeaux and throw a lot of punches he’s going to have a decent chance at winning this fight. Rigondeaux can beat as long as you throw enough punches and can take his powerful counter shots to the body and head. That’s not easy to do but it’s possible. Poonsawat is a pretty tough guy with a tough chin and an ability to take body shots without any problems. Rigondeaux is going to have problems trying to knock this guy out, and he might not way to waste his time trying because he could get beaten for his efforts.