By Chris Williams: Gary Hyde, the manager for WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) is very pleased that his fighter has finally cornered WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) after having chased him for well over a year now trying to get a fight.
Hyde believes Rigondeaux is going to take Donaire’s WBO title from him on April 13th when they face each on HBO at the Radio City Music Hall, in New York, New York, USA.
Hyde said at the press conference Thursday “Nonito has been avoiding a confrontation with Rigondeaux and he is saying he is not on his radar. Nonito, I can tell that you are on Rigondeaux’s radar and on the 13th of April, he will beat you and get your titles. Then he will enter the sport’s pound-for-pound top 10.”
Nonito looked over at Hyde when he said these things, and he rolled his eyes as if to say he hadn’t been avoiding Rigondeaux. Donaire may not have been avoiding him, but he sure didn’t seem eager to face the tough Cuban because his level opposition has been lacking during the last year. Instead of facing the dangerous Rigondeaux, Donaire instead took easy fights against Jorge Arce, Toshiaki Nishioka, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Jeffrey Mathebula.
Donaire beat all of them, as you would expect, and that gave him Fighter of the Year with a number of boxing organizations. The thing is Rigondeaux would have likely beaten all four just as easily, but he wasn’t given the chance because he’s not as popular as Doniare.
If you saw the press conference last Thursday you may have noticed that Donaire is about 20 pounds heavier than Rigondeaux and at least three inches taller. Rigondeaux has been working out already, and he’s reportedly right at 122 lbs, the weight for the division.
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