Boxing is one of the most traumatic sports. Every athlete who has chosen this activity is mentally prepared for potential health problems.

However, Guillermo Rigondeaux, who is considered one of the greatest boxers in history, did not stop him from winning two Olympics and becoming the owner of championship belts in two WBA categories. His professional career developed as brilliantly as his amateur one. However, everything was interrupted in the spring of 2022.

Now the Cuban should be grateful to fate that he is simply alive.

Cuban boxing tradition

Boxers from Liberty Island are among the most successful in the amateur category. After the United States, Cuban men rank second in both the number of gold medals and the total number of awards in this sport at the Olympics. And the last Games in Tokyo became triumphant for them, as the Cubans managed to win the overall boxing standings with four gold and one bronze medals. They just don’t lose in finals.

Especially athletes from Cuba excelled in the bantamweight category, where since 1972 they have won six gold medals at the Olympics, two of which have been won by Guillermo Rigondeaux. A boxer nicknamed the Jackal took gold in 2000 in Sydney and four years later in Athens. No one has yet managed to win twice in this weight category at the main sporting event in the world.

Vorapoy Petchkum, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Bakhodirjon Sultonov and Aghasi Mammadov, 2004 / Photo: © Al Bello / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

In addition, in the 2000s, he took two golds of the world championships, and in his homeland he did not give victories to anyone from 2000 to 2006. Rigondeaux went into professional boxing in 2009, by which time he had 389 amateur fights, winning 374 of them.

So the Jackal opened himself to the new century, staked out the place of the greatest boxer in history and the hero of Cuba, whose glorious traditions in martial arts received a new round of development.

“Champion on Vacation”

In the professional ring, the career of the two-time Olympic champion developed rapidly. In May 2009, he had his first fight, in which he defeated the American Juan Noriega, and in the fall he won the vacant title in the second bantamweight (according to the WBA-NABA version), knocking down the Brazilian Andrade twice during the fight.

He became the permanent world champion in 2012, defeating Rico Ramos (USA). After that, the Cuban successfully defended his title six times over two years, but in 2015 he took a break. According to the rules of the Boxing Association (WBA), he had to prove his worth every 9 months, but Rigondeaux did not do this, was stripped of his title and received the status of “champion on vacation”. His last defense was on December 31, 2014 in a fight against the Japanese Hisashi Amagasa.

Guillermo Rigondeaux and Hisashi Amagasa / Photo: © Ken Ishii / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

However, Guillermo’s career did not stop there. He successfully continued to collect world titles in the second bantamweight division according to versions of other associations: WBC, WBA Super, IBO.

The first defeat in the professional ring came to him in December 2017 from Vasily Lomachenko. The Ukrainian defended his WBO world title for the fourth time. From this shock, Rigondeaux departed for a little over a year, but returned with three victories and a title in a new weight. In February 2020, he defeated Colombian Liborio Solis, trying on the WBA bantamweight belt. 20 years after winning his first Olympics.

insidious frying pan

The triumph of two years ago was his last. After the title fight, he lost twice, including on February 26, 2022 to his compatriot Vincent Astrolabio. However, the Jackal did not exactly expect that the duel in Dubai could be the final one in his career.

In March, the 41-year-old boxer cooked his favorite black beans in a skillet. The kitchen utensils became so hot that at a certain moment there was an explosion and all the contents were on his face and body.

The Cuban lost 80% of his sight and received burns to his face and chest. In the early days, his condition was unstable, the doctors did not rule out that an operation might be required. However, additional examinations showed that the prognosis is not as bad as it was initially.

Guillermo Rigondeaux / Photo: © Michael Owens / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

While there is no information whether the champion will be able to recover and return to the professional ring. Rigondeaux himself does not speak out on the subject, but posted a heartbreaking caption to a photo of his injury posted on social media:

“Every night when I close my eyes, this is what I see. Sometimes, it’s impossible to forget.

Fate prepared an incredible shock for the Cuban. Having never been knocked out in the ring, the great champion took a disastrous blow from his favorite dish in the kitchen.