Guillermo Rigondeaux’s Lineal Championship reign began on April 13, 2013, when he put on a masterful boxing performance to win the Junior Featherweight crown from Nonito Donaire. Since this, he’s made seven defences, remaining unbeaten at 122lbs. In the first three years he was reasonably active, making five successful defences by 2015, but then a year passed before he knocked out Moises Flores with a punch as the bell rang to end round 1; ruled by the referee to be an illegal blow, which resulted in the bout being called a no contest. Next up for Rigondeaux, was a loss to Vasyl Lomachenko at Lightweight. The Cuban’s seventh and last defence of the Lineal Championship was his 8th round TKO of Julio Ceja on June 23, 2019. His previous three contests have been at Bantamweight. 2013 – 2019, were his active years as Lineal Champion. It’s now been over three years and five months since his last defence, and he still has no junior fearherweight fight scheduled.
Incidentally, The Ring Magazine stripped Rigondeaux of their belt in February 2016, for failing to fulfil their Championship Policy criteria of facing an opponent ranked in the top five within a specified time period.
Since the Ceja fight, Rigondeaux has maintained that he is still the Lineal Champion at 122lbs and will return to the weight class:
“Don’t forget. All roads from 115 – 122 still lead to Rigondeaux! Current champion at 118lbs, Lineal Champion at 122lbs. I’ll take the belts at 115lbs and meet you there too.” (Guillermo Rigondeaux/Twitter, October 21st, 2020).
“I’m the father of all the little chickens in that division. Everyone knows that’s my division until someone takes it from me. I’m the Lineal 122-pound champion.” [Themistode H. (2021) Boxinginsider.com. August 13, 2021].
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020/21 disrupted boxing schedules across the world, and in March 2022 a pressure cooker explosion severely burned his corneas/eyes, leaving Rigondeaux hospitalised, initially losing 80% of his vision, and putting the chance of a return to professional boxing in jeopardy.
The TBRB recognised the TBRB 122lbs title as being vacant on July 11, 2022, due to “Guillermo Rigondeaux’s abdication via abandonment.”
In June 2022 Lineal Boxing Champion reached out to Rigondeaux’s team to see if he planned to return to boxing and/or if he had relinquished his Lineal crown. A representative from his team, stated: “He is considering his next move right now. 118lbs is his optimal division but he would go to 122lbs under the right conditions.” By October 23rd, 2022, a follow-up correspondence stated that he was “thinking about his return,” but that there was still “nothing on paper just yet.”
Cuban boxing reporter, BoxeoCubano, stated on December 8th, 2022, that Rigondeaux “will return to the ring on February 24 on a Warriors Boxing Promotion,” adding that the opportunity “could be under Premier Boxing at 118lbs.”
By the end of. February 2023, it will have been three years and ten months since his last junior featherweight bout (a period of time that meets our “Abandonment Policy” timeframe for considering a Championship to be abandoned/vacant) and even if this tentatively arranged bout (with no named opponent) happens, the evidence suggests Rigondeaux’s preferred weight class is now Bantamweight. As such, Lineal Boxing Champion now recognises the Junior Featherweight Championship as being vacant.
@LinealBoxChamp