Beristain picks Rigondeaux to defeat Donaire tonight

By Boxing News - 04/13/2013 - Comments

donaire#7By Chris Williams: Trainer Nacho Beristain believes that WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) will defeat WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) in a minor upset at the Radio City Music Hall, in New York, New York, USA.

Beristain thinks the combination of Rigondeaux’s incredible boxing skills and power will surprise the Filipino and give him major problems.

Beristain said to ESPN Latino “I think Rigondeaux will win. He’s a tough fighter, experienced, he has a great sense of distance. Everybody is talking about Nonito’s punch but I think if the other guy [Rigondeaux] applies himself, he’ll eat him alive.”

Donaire may not want to admit it but tonight he’s going to be facing his best opponent of his career in facing Rigondeaux. Donaire hasn’t been taking on any real threats lately, as his promoter Bob Arum has matched him with back to back over the hill fighters in Jorge Arce and Toshiaki Nishioka.

Before that, Donaire had struggled to beat Jeffrey Mathebula, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Omar Narvaez. Once Arum put Donaire back on a soft diet of old timers, he started looking good again, and boxing fans don’t realize that he was no longer facing relevant fighters.

Arce was way past his best and had recently been handled easily by a younger fighter Jesus M Rojas in a fight that Arce quit in the 2nd round after saying he was hurt. Toshiaki hadn’t fought in over a year, and before that had gone life and death with a shot Rafael Marquez in a fight that was close to being a draw.

If Rigondeaux beats Donaire tonight, it’s going to be a huge blow to Donaire’s career because it’ll make boxing fans reexamine their beliefs about him being unbeatable and have to recognize that he wasn’t unbeatable after all. Donaire was just unbeatable against the guys that his promoter Bob Arum was putting him in with. Believe me, soft matchmaking can make any fighter look unbeatable.



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