By Juan dela Cruz: When Nonito Donaire was about to face the Cuban defector Guillermo Rigondeaux for WBO/WBA junior featherweight title unification bout, people all over the boxing world became elated as two scientific and exciting boxers will face each other to determine who the best 122-pounder there is. Finally, the best fighters in 122-pound division will finally square off.
But on April 13, 2013 at the Radio Music Hall in New York City, the much anticipated bout became a very boring one. Thanks to Guillermo Rigondeaux’s different notion of “hit, but don’t get hit” principle of the sweet science. Gone are the days when fighters will slug it out, dodging punches by moving their heads and body without back-pedaling. We can no longer see the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, or Roberto Duran who had shown the boxing fans during the ‘80s what “hit, but don’t get hit” is rightly about. Rigo forgot that boxing is a form of entertainment and that’s the main reason why people buy tickets to watch the fight. The want to be ENTERTAINED!
Sadly, it was not in the mind of Rigo during the bout. All he knows is to keep on running away from Donaire to avoid his punches. Avoiding punches is of course what is meant by “don’t get hit” part of the principle. But doing it by running away from an opponent simply doesn’t epitomize that part. This was the clear reason why people in attendance keep on booing Rigo up to the last round. As what Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports puts it, Rigo might have won, but he is the biggest loser in that fight. And Kevin was right because Bob Arum of Top Rank is now having second thoughts on marketing Rigo. He’d been in the boxing for several decades and he knows what the fans want. They want entertainment and if a fighter like Rigo will be put in the squared circle, who will watch him considering he does not entertain but he just keeps on running.
Rigondeaux might have won the bout through points, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is the kind of entertainment you brought to people especially to your fans. Where is “I’ll fight toe to toe” as articulated by the Cuban? NONE, all that people have seen were his constant running away from Donaire. He should be thought the right way to dodge punches and not on running miles away from an opponent. And worst, Rigo thought the people were booing him because he played the “matador” with Donaire as the bull. Funny but he really said that.
It the bouts these days will be scored according to how fast you run, it is no wonder why Husain Bolt will be the next pound for pound king!
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