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Rigondeaux moving to featherweight to chase Frampton

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Guillermo Rigondeaux has heavily hinted on social media that he will be moving up to the 126lb featherweight division in the near future.

The two-time Olympic gold medal-winning Cuban is the current WBA super bantamweight champion, but looks set to soon vacate the belt and move up four pounds.

The team behind ‘El Chacal’s’ Twitter account sent out the following message this morning:

The move to featherweight is presumably to chase, among others, new WBA featherweight champion Carl Frampton.

The Belfast man explained after his exciting win over Leo Santa Cruz on Saturday night in New York that he will not be fighting the Caribbean stylist due to Rigondeaux’s perceived unnattractive style and lack of financial incentive.

Rigondeaux, who turns 36 next month, may be trying to force Frampton into fighting him or risk losing his newly-won belt. The pound-for-pound rated Cuban mentioned “obligations to fulfill now,” which may be his mandatory challenger Moises Flores.

Perhaps Rigondeaux intends to defend his WBA super bantamweight title and keep the organisation sweet, so to say, helping his chances of them mandating, for a second time, a ‘Battle of the Jackals.’

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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