Welcome back Guillermo Rigondeaux.
The former super bantamweight champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist returned to action for the first time in more than a year on the January 13 PBC on FS1 prelim card. Rigondeaux knocked out Giovanni Delgado with an overhand left in the final seconds of the first round.
Just before the bell @rigoelchacal305 lands a nasty left hook to KO Giovanni Delgado in RD1. #Rigondeaux improves his record to 18-1 with 12 KOs. #PBConFS1 #RigondeauxDelgado pic.twitter.com/cnficAPtbn
— PBC (@premierboxing) January 14, 2019
The win was Rigondeaux's first since July 2016 when he was the WBA "Super" super bantamweight world champion. Rigondeaux's last two fights was a June 2017 bout against Moises Flores that ended in a no contest and a December 2017 loss to Vasiliy Lomachenko for the WBO super featherweight title, leading to Rigondeaux being stripped of his WBA world title. Rigondeaux spent the majority of 2018 in complete silence with no word on whether or not he would retire. The 38-year-old Rigondeaux signed with PBC in December, leading to his in-ring return.
The first fight on the prelim card saw unbeaten junior welterweight prospect Lindolfo Delgado dominate Sergio Lopez, winning the fight with a third-round knockout. Delgado set the pace early on in the fight, landing the left hook often and putting pressure on Lopez. Lindolfo landed a flurry of shots late in the third round and Lopez took a knee. The referee counted up to eight before deciding to stop the fight altogether and award the victory to Lindolfo.
.@lindolfodeel improves to 8-0 with his defeat of Sergio Lopez after 3RDs of punishment. #PBConFS1 #DelgadoLopez pic.twitter.com/zQCt1iLLu8
— PBC (@premierboxing) January 13, 2019
In the last bout on the prelim, Ahmed Elbiali defeated former world champion Allan Green in three rounds as well. Elbiali dropped Green multiple times in the fight and the fight was stopped in the third round as Green was on the receiving end of a lot of punishment dished out by Elbiali.
.@Elbialii drops Allan Green again in RD3, causing the ref to stop the fight. With that KO, Elbiali improves his record to 18-1, 15KOs. #PBConFS1 #ElbialiGreen pic.twitter.com/sUs64LCf5p
— PBC (@premierboxing) January 14, 2019
The entire event, taking place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, will feature Jose Uzcategui vs. Caleb Plant for the IBF super middleweight title in the main event.
