Guillermo Rigondeaux vs Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym Dec. 15
Guillermo Rigondeaux of Cuba will be defending his WBA Super Bantamweight crown against veteran Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym of Thailand at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday December 15. Rigondeaux is a bit unique in today’s era of boxing since he won a world title in just his ninth professional bout. He turned pro three years ago and is unbeaten with a record of 11-0 with 8 Kos.
However, don’t let his pro inexperience fool you as he was one of Cuba’s finest ever amateur boxers and won gold medals at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. Kratingdaenggym has a lot more experience as a pro as he’ll enter the ring with a record of 48-2 with 33 Kos and is a former WBA champion.
Rigondeaux is quite the competitor. He prefers to counterpunch with his smooth southpaw style and loves to go to his opponents’ body. He’s one of the top fighters in a division that also boasts world champions Abner Mares and Nonito Donaire.
The fans are hoping that at least two of these three can get together and unify at least a couple of the titles. He hasn’t really had any soft touches since turning pro and faced veteran Giovanni Andrade in his third pro bout. He’s also beaten the likes of Rico Ramos, Teon Kennedy, and Robert Marroquin.
The 32-year-old Kratingdaenggym is a worthy opponent who has won seven straight fights and has lost just once in the last six and a half years, which was a close decision to Ryol Li Lee in October 2010. The Thai boxer likes to stay active and throws dozens of punches each round. He’s fast and quite aggressive, which could be a perfect match for Rigondeaux’s counter-punching style.
Kratingdaenggym could be able to win a few rounds just by volume punching alone. The champion will be using his jab, ducking punches and countering when possible. There’s no doubt that Rigondeaux is a very good technical boxer, but he isn’t exactly one of the most exciting guys around.
He’s also good defensively and is an accurate puncher, and he should be in for a stiff test here, especially considering he’s the same age as the challenger and won’t have an advantage there. This will be the Cuban’s fourth fight of 2012 so there’s no chance of him suffering from ring rust at all. The same is true for Kratingdaenggym, so we have two active fighters here who should be in great shape.
Prediction
Both of these boxers may be relatively unknown to mainstream fight fans. However, we could see an excellent showdown due to their differing styles. The challenger prefers to mix things up and doesn’t mind getting into brawls while the champion prefers to fight in a more controlled manner. If Rigondeaux can keep Kratingdaenggym at bay with his strong right jab then he’ll have the edge. However, he’s going to have to stand his ground and engage at some point. They both have good chins, but Kratingdaenggym may have a better one. He’s never been stopped in his 50 fights since turning pro in 2001. I’m not sure if he’ll win by a late KO or a decision, but look for Rigondeaux to hang onto his title.
Guillermo Rigondeaux betting • Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym betting