By Chris Williams: WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) thinks WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) is worried about their fight on April 13th, and is giving him too much respect going into their unification bout at the Radio City Music Hall, in New York, New York, USA.
Donaire said “I think Rigondeaux is nervous; he has too much respect for me.”
Donaire doesn’t say what leads him to believe this because Rigondeaux hasn’t really shown any signs of being nervous about the fight aside from going back and forth with him over which organization will do the drug testing for the fight. Donaire wanted random drug testing for the fight, and Rigondeaux agreed to it.
Speaking with HBO, Donaire said “I’ve seen some of his fights [Rigondeaux] now, and he’s a very clever guy. Anyone with power is going to be a very dangerous opponent, but we [Donaire and his trainer Robert Garcia] try to eliminate every aspect of danger. When you’re well prepared you can see everything coming at you. His speed is decent and he has good power, and has had pretty good experience in the amateurs, but again amateurs and professionals are totally different.”
It’s good that Donaire is saying that he finally sat down to watch some of Rigondeaux’s fights because in a recent interview Donaire claimed that he only seen one of Rigondeaux’s fights on youtube, which is pretty amazing given the fact that he’s known about Rigondeaux for ages.
I don’t care how good a trainer Robert Garcia is he’s not going to be able to eliminate 100 percent of the danger that Rigondeaux brings to the table for this fight. We just saw one of Garcia’s fighters Brandon Rios get beaten last Saturday night by Mike Alvarado, and he was getting hit plenty.
I’m sure Garcia prepared him fully to eliminate every aspect of danger but he sure did a crummy job of keeping from getting hit. The fact is there’s no way of keeping from getting hit unless Donaire is able to score a quick knockout, which is doubtful.
Rigondeaux will land his shots, and he will test Donaire’s soft-looking midsection with a big body shots. If Donaire can’t handle the punches to the body, then we’ll see another Garcia fighter tasting defeat.
I think Donaire is too cocky for his own good. I believe his past victories have given him too much self-confidence, and I think it’s going to hurt him in this fight when he realizes that he’s not invincible.
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