Donaire: Rigondeaux’s camp making it difficult for fight to take place

By Boxing News - 12/21/2012 - Comments

rigondeaux212By Chris Williams: WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) is perfectly clear about who he wants to fight next. He wants to fight a unification bout with WBC super bantamweight champion Abner Mares.

That fight will likely have to wait until either Mares’ promotional contract with Golden Boy Promotions runs out or unless Donaire’s promoter Top Rank president Bob Arum can somehow negotiate the fight. Donaire will have to likely settle for a fight with WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s), which may be a much tougher fight for Donaire than the brawling Mares would be.

A lot of boxing fans think Donaire is made to order for Rigondeaux, and that the counter punching Cuban would knock Donaire out with a body punch in taking advantage of the way that Donaire loads up with everything he throws. Rigondeaux tends to do really well against those types of fighters.

Donaire said to the Manila Standard that Rigondeaux’s team are “making it difficult” and “[He’s] doing it for the money, nothing else.”

If Donaire can’t get a fight negotiated with the 32-year-old Rigondeaux then Donaire said “We might move up to 126.”

It doesn’t look like Donaire is all that eager to negotiate a fight with Rigondeaux, because as far as I know, the negotiations haven’t even started. If Donaire is already talking about bailing on the process before the negotiations have started that just seems like he’s not all that eager to take the fight with the dangerous Cuban fighter.

If a fighter doesn’t want a fight they can get out of it for any number of reasons, and you have to wonder whether Donaire will choose to move on rather than face Rigondeaux.
Rigondeaux is easily the best fighter that Donaire will have faced during his career. Rigondeaux isn’t a sloppy Vic Darchinyan with his telegraphed punches, or an over-the-hill Toshiaki Nishioka and Jorge Arce. Rigongeaux can actually still fight and he’s a lot more of a problem than those guys or pretty much anyone else that Donaire has fought.



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