By Chris Williams: If there’s area that will determine the outcome of the April 13th unification fight between WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) and WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) it would have to be whether Donaire can land his big left hooks.
The fight pretty much will be determined on that because if Donaire can land his left hooks with any regularity then the chances are high that he’ll knock Rigondeaux out or make him so defensive that he won’t put much more than a token effort into trying to win the fight.
There have only been three fights where Donaire struggled to land his left hooks, and those fights were against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Omar Andres Narvaez, Jeffrey Mathebula and Rafael Concepcion. Each one of those fighters was able to neutralize Donaire’s left hook for the most part, and give him fits. None of them were able to beat him because they lacked the offensive firepower needed to get the decision, but they did take away Donaire’s best weapon his left hook.
If there’s any fighter in boxing that can talk away Donaire’s left hook and punish him with power shots in return it’s Rigondeaux. He’s got the skills to shut down Donaire’s left hook completely like a shutdown corner in football.
Donaire is a much different fighter when you take his left hook away from him, and the fight will be a 50-50 one if Rigondeaux can accomplish that.
Donaire-Rigondeaux will be battling it out at the Radio City Music Hall, in New York, New York.
I’m still trying to figure out why their promoter Bob Arum decided to place the fight in New York when neither fighter has much of a fan base over there. The seating capacity for the venue is 6,015, but I’d be surprised if they sell more than 2,000 tickets for this one because I don’t see that many fans wanting to come see this fight. Neither fighter is from New York or even close to New York.
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