By Dan Ambrose: WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) has reportedly signed to fight WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) on April 13th at a still to be determined venue. According to RingTV, they’re only waiting for Donaire’s side of the contract to be finalized so that he can sign and then the fight will be made official.
It’s not expected that Donaire will back out or create any roadblocks, but you never know until the fight is actually signed.
Pat English, the attorney for Rigondeaux’s manager Gary Hyde, let RingTV know that Rigondeaux has signed the contract, and they’ve sent it to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum. This was an easy fight for Arum to put together because it didn’t involve him working with another promoter like Golden Boy Promotions. Rigondeaux has a co-promoter in Caribe Promotions, but it was easy for Arum to work with them.
The venue of the fight could take place in New York, Texas, or Los Angeles. It’s doubtful that New York will get the fight because of the high taxes in the states, so it’s more likely it takes place in Texas or Los Angeles. Texas is a smaller tax state than California, but it’s not the idea location to stage a fight between the Cuban Rigondeaux and Filipino Donaire.
Unless Arum fills the card with Mexican fighters, it could be ghost town if he tries to stage the Donaire-Rigondeaux fight in Texas. Well at least Arum isn’t talking about taking the fight out of the country yet because that’s been one of the things he’s been taking about with Manny Pacquiao and Brian Viloria.
Donaire had an easy 2012, beating up a couple of old fighters in Jorge Arce and Toshiaki Nishioka, a little known champion named Jeffrey Mathebula, and an ex-champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., who had recently been knocked out by Arce. It wasn’t the best of opposition, but it still was enough for Donaire to get the fighter of the year for 2012. If Donaire can get past Rigondeaux in April, then he’ll have a good chance of repeating if he can get at two more fights in against quality opposition.
That might be difficult because he plans on staying with his wife Rachel this summer through her pregnancy, and he’s pretty much run out of quality opposition at 122 unless Arum is willing to make the Donaire vs. Abner Mares fight. I’m not counting on that happening. So what we could see is Donaire possibly beating Rigondeaux and then a couple of little known contenders in 2013.
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