Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Hisashi Amagasa: Preview and Prediction for Title Fight

On New Year's Eve in Osaka, Japan, undefeated super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux returns to action against Oriental and Pacific featherweight champion Hisashi Amagasa. Rigondeaux is among the top pound-for-pound boxing talents on the planet, and there are a ton of great potential opponents for him at 122 and 126 pounds.

Unfortunately, Amagasa isn't one of them. 

Despite his incredible talent, Rigondeaux has yet to catch on with the North American fight public. And so he is relegated to stay-busy fights in Japan.

On paper, Hisashi Amagasa appears to be the more experienced fighter, but that is hardly the case. Rigondeaux is among the most decorated amateur boxers in history, having won Olympic gold twice and fought nearly 400 times at the international level.

Even in the professional ranks, Rigondeaux has faced the far better talent. 

Amagasa is over a half-foot taller than Rigondeaux, but his reach advantage is much less substantial. Amagasa is also a true featherweight, so the cut to 122 pounds could prove brutal for a fighter with his frame. 

Guillermo Rigondeaux is one of the best pound-for-pound boxers on the planet. But he's the best current example of George Foreman's famous line that "boxing is like jazz—the better it is, the less people appreciate it."

In April 2013, Rigondeaux handed a boxing lesson to Nonito Donaire, who was then the top fighter in the world at Rigondeaux's weight class. At the time, Donaire was fresh from winning Fighter of the Year honors in 2012. He was being built up by Top Rank and HBO as a potential superstar. 

It almost feels like Top Rank and HBO reacted to Rigo's undressing of Donaire by punishing the Cuban star. Instead of replacing Donaire as a superstar, as would seem like the logical result of such a win, Rigondeaux has languished in obscurity against unworthy opponents. 

Enter Hisashi Amagasa of Japan. He's beaten nobody of note and lost to nobody of note. Rigondeaux beat Donaire in his 12th professional fight. After Amagasa's first 12 fights, he had a record of 7-3-2.

Amagasa will tower over Rigondeaux in the ring, but that will just mean that the Japanese challenger has a lot of torso for Rigondeaux to bang away at. If Amagasa somehow wins, it will be a true, last-second clincher for Upset of the Year. 

Guillermo Rigondeaux is a true master at the art of boxing. He controls range and avoids punches as well as anybody in the sport. He dictates the rhythm and pace of the fight. 

Rigondeaux is viewed as something of a defensive specialist, but he throws crisp, fluid combinations and has the power to end a fight quickly.

Hisashi Amagasa is a huge fighter for 122 pounds. He throws straight, one-two punches with decent power. 

Guillermo Rigondeaux did struggle to escape with a split decision against Ricardo Cordoba early in his career, when he relied a bit too much on a more cautious, amateur style.

But he has shown little in the way of weakness in the boxing ring since. Nonito Donaire managed to drop him in Round 10 of their fight, exploding on Rigondeaux with sudden aggression. Rigondeaux is almost completely accustomed to dictating a fight's pace, so when an opponent disrupts his ability to do so temporarily, it throws him off a little bit.

Hisashi Amagasa is a plodding fighter who throws predictable, one-two combinations with thudding power but very little zip. He keeps his hands low and paws with his jab.

Amagasa usually fights at 126 pounds, where he is already extremely lean. The cut to 122 might be hard on him. 

Guillermo Rigondeaux will spend nearly this entire fight either just beyond or inside of Hisashi Amagasa's range. In the early rounds, he should look to slip to his right beneath Amagasa's jab and then pound at the Japanese challenger's torso with hooks.

Rigondeaux should have a lot of success throwing a left uppercut at the end of a body attack, before slipping back out of range behind a stiff jab. Rigondeaux should land nearly at will up and down Amagasa's torso.

Once he has Amagasa frustrated and hurting, Rigondeaux will start to look for openings off Amagasa's mistakes. Expect the Japanese fighter to fire inaccurate, desperation punches as the bout enters the early middle rounds, which will allow Rigo to hammer him upstairs with counters.  

From the limited amount of video I have seen on Hisashi Amagasa, I can only conclude that he's well out of his depth here against Guillermo Rigondeaux. To have any chance, he'll have to surprise the Cuban star by dictating the pace with his aggression. 

Amagasa needs to pump aggressively with his jab while stepping toward his left in order to set up the straight right. He has to keep his hands in a good guard position too, which is not something he has done a good job of in the fights that I've seen.

When Rigondeaux moves inside and pounds at Amagasa's body, the Japanese fighter should respond with aggression, looking to land an uppercut or chopping overhand. He should also attempt to time Rigondeaux while the champ is moving back out of range.

To have any chance, Amagasa will have to land something big that Rigondeaux wasn't expecting. His best chance to do so will be if he stays busy.  

If Hisashi Amagasa manages to beat Guillermo Rigondeaux, it will be the Upset of the Year on the final day of 2014. But the chances of that happening are unlikely.

There is a wide chasm in talent between Amagasa and Rigondeaux. I doubt the challenger even has the skill to get into position to land a "lucky" punch on Rigondeaux.

I expect Rigondeaux to pound the lanky torso of the weight-drained challenger and finish him off in the middle rounds. If I was setting the over-under on rounds, I'd go with six. If I was betting that over-under, I'd pick under. 

For Rigondeaux to be languishing in obscurity like this is ridiculous. There are a bunch of compelling fights out there for him now. At 122 pounds, he could face undefeated WBC champion Leo Santa Cruz or undefeated IBF champion Carl Frampton.

At 126, Rigo would have a great matchup with undefeated IBF champion Evgeny Gradovich. After the way undefeated WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters demolished Nonito Donaire last fall, it would be intriguing to see him against Rigondeaux. Walter's explosive power could be a legitimate danger for Rigondeaux.

And the fight that all boxing purists would salivate over is Rigondeaux against WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko. It would be one of the greatest matchups ever of former Olympic stars. 

If any of those champions wants to truly call himself the best, he's going to need to beat Rigondeaux.