by James Slater – Touted as one of the very best prospects in the sport of boxing today, Cuban hotshot Guillermo Rigondeaux has announced how he will not be fighting as planned on this coming Saturday’s Andre-Berto-Carlos Quintana card in Florida. The two-time Olympic gold medallist and overall amateur standout has injured his back, and is now unable to go ahead with his scheduled ten-round bout with Colombia’s 36-year-old Reynaldo Lopez – 30-7-3(21).. The 5-0(4) prospect’s team have also announced how the Cuban will no longer be working with ace trainer Freddie Roach.
Indeed, this news, which has been reported by Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, is of even more importance than, and may prove to be more serious than, the called off fight. Apparently, according to his promoter Luis DeCubas, Rigondeaux left Roach because he was unhappy at how he was not being given enough time with the star trainer, and because of how he was sparring with bigger guys than he wanted to work with.
“His feeling is he’s a two-time [Olympic] gold medal winner and he went all the way out there and felt there were too many fighters in the gym,” DeCubas said of his fighter’s experiences at The Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles. “Nobody was picking him up in the morning to run and he felt he should have been sparring with lighter guys, not 150-pounders.
“He wasn’t getting enough attention from Freddie. He’s very disappointed.”
So too are the fans who were looking forward to seeing the Cuban defector in action on Saturday night. Having fought as recently as February, the gifted southpaw super-bantamweight was looking to keep his momentum going against Lopez. Instead, as DeCubas told ESPN.com, the 29-year-old is back in Miami, looking to see if he can find a replacement trainer to take over from Roach.
It will be interesting to see who Rigondeaux finds to work with. When it was first announced how he would be working with Freddie, the universal reaction was to praise the move – yet things have quite obviously not worked out as people thought they would. At age 29, Rigondeaux may not have all that much time on his side as far as switching trainers and settling down to the pro game. Will the boxer nicknamed “El Chacal” prove to be another great Cuban amateur who fails to live up to his potential in the paid game?