Donaire wants rematch with Rigondeaux

By Boxing News - 06/15/2013 - Comments

donaire55By Chris Williams: Former WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-2, 20 KO’s) badly wants a rematch against WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (12-0, 8 KO’s) next if his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank will make that fight.

If not, then Donaire says he’s prepared to move up to featherweight to go after the vacant WBO featherweight title that was stripped from Donaire’s friend Mikey Garcia for failing to make weight last Friday in his weigh-in for his fight against Juan Manuel Lopez tonight.

Donaire told Manilstandardtoday.com “I want a rematch [with Rigondeaux] more than anything else right now. I’m training hard right now and feeling good…if they [Top Rank] don’t give me a rematch with Rigondeaux, I will move up.”

I wonder why Donaire waited this long to start being vocal about wanting the rematch with Rigondeaux? We haven’t heard hardly a peep out of Donaire since his loss to Rigondeaux two months ago and now all of a sudden he’s speaking up.

I think Arum isn’t going to let Donaire take that fight. Last week, Arum was asked about putting Donaire back in with Rigondeaux and Arum said he’ll put Donaire back in with Rigondeaux eventually.

It didn’t sound like Arum was eager to match Donaire with Rigondeaux again anytime soon.

Donaire was easily beaten by Rigondeaux by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision last April. Donaire took a beating in that fight and looked awful in losing.

If Donaire does face Rigondeaux he’ll be making a big mistake because Rigondeaux showed in that fight that he’s the superior fighter to Donaire, and that’s not going to change if they fight each other again this year.

The only way Donaire beats Rigondeaux is if he waits him out until Rigondeaux gets old and has lost a few steps. I can’t see Donaire being able to wait that long because Rigondeaux could be one of those fighters that continues to fight on a high level even into his mid to late thirties.

What Donaire needs is to be strategically matched against guys that are slower than him, easy to hit, and not really powerful. But if Arum puts Donaire back in with Rigondeaux, the Cuban fighter will school Donaire and likely beat him even worse than he did the first time.



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