The Miami Herald (Spanish language) is reporting that Cuban boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux has defected to the United States and has met with his former teammates after their card in Fort Lauderdale this past Friday.  Rigondeaux, a two-time bantamweight gold medalist, is generally regarded as the top Cuban boxing talent of this generation.  If this rumor is true and he joins up with Ahmet Oner's Arena Box promotions, that will mean that Oner will have five top Cuban amateurs under one banner, including top prospects Yuriorkis Gamboa and Erislandy Lara (the ever-fattening Odlanier Solis and quasi-bust Yan Barthelemy being the others).  Rigondeaux's amateur record is purportedly 243-4, although he hasn't been allowed to box for a year and a half.

Rignodeaux had previously attempted to defect.  The first time, he and Lara defected to Brazil in 2007, but were arrested by Brazilian authorities before they could make it to Germany for asylum.  Supposedly, the two boxers said they wanted to go back to Cuba, which would be inconsistent with Lara's second successful defection attempt a few months later.  Rigondeaux was then kicked off the Cuban boxing team, and has not been in a ring since then.

As the most talented of the group of Cubans, and being under the banner of a promoter who's not afraid to challenge his fighters (even if he's afraid to let them lose when they're about to get knocked out), expect to see Rigondeaux fighting against the top tier relatively quickly.  At this point, he's already 27 years old, which is already pretty old for someone at the lower weights.

Update (4:05 pm) - Arena Box has confirmed Rigondeaux's defection and signing with Arena Box.  They will unveil the official announcement early next week.