By Chris Williams: To get ready for the huge WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) for their fight on April 13th, WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) is reportedly sparring with 135 and 140 pound fighters.
Rigondeaux wants to be ready for Donaire, who recently looked like a lightweight size when the two met in a press conference to announce their fight at the Radio City Music Hall, in New York, New York, USA.
Rigondeaux is said to be doing really well sparring with the huge lightweights and light welterweights, and has reportedly knocked several of them down with hard shots.
To get ready for the 5’7” Donaire, Rigondeaux has to spar with bigger fighters because Donaire could very well come into the fight weighing in the mid-130s, and possibly even heavier if he comes into the fight looking as big as he did during their press conference.
I’ve seen a lot of big lightweights like Adrien Broner and Antonio DeMarco, and Donaire looked identical to them in size. He’s a huge super bantamweight, and you have to wonder why he’s still fighting at this weight.
If Donaire has got the size to fight at lightweight, he should move up in weight three divisions and campaign as a lightweight because there are better fights at that weight. If Donaire can move up one more division, he’ll be right in the thick of things facing the likes of Amir Khan, Danny Garcia, Zab Judah, Lamont Peterson, Terrence Crawford, Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado.
Whatever weight that Donaire comes into this fight, Rigondeaux will be ready to deal with his size given all the work that he’s been doing with lightweights and light welterweights. The size won’t be a big deal at all.
It’s smart for Rigondeaux to be sparring with huge guys three divisions above him in weight, because if Donaire were to come into the fight weighing a huge 140 pounds on April 13th, then Rigondeaux might struggle with his size if he hadn’t sparred with similar sized fighters to get him ready.
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