Guillermo Rigondeaux added to Cotto-Canelo undercard

Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KOs) has been added to the undercard of the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez fight on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay  in Las Vegas.

Rigondeaux will face Drian Francisco (28-3-1, 22 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round super bantamweight bout. The two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist is replacing Andre Ward, who was scheduled to fight Alexander Brand but withdrew last week because of inflammation in his right knee.

The 35-year-old Rigondeaux has not fought since last December, where he was knocked down twice in the 7th round by Japan's Hisashi Amagasa before claiming a 11th-round stoppage victory. He was stripped of his WBA and WBO 122-pound world titles due to his inactivity, and he will now be aiming to regain them.
There’s also a chance that Rigondeaux will move up in weight to featherweight and challenge WBO champion Vasyl Lomachenko in 2016.

In the meantime, Rigondeaux must get past Filipino fighter Francisco, 33, who can punch but is taking a huge step up in competition.

Rigondeaux had been training for a fight on December 4 in Ottawa, Canada, however, he signed with Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports on Saturday and was immediately added to the Cotto-Canelo undercard.

Also on the card, American Randy Caballero (22-0, 13 KOs) defends his IBF bantamweight title against Britain's Lee Haskins (32-3, 14 KOs), while Japan's Takashi Miura (29-2-2, 22 KOs), defends his WBC super featherweight title against mandatory challenger Francisco Vargas (22-0-1, 16 KOs), of Mexico.