HBO won’t be televising Rigondeaux’s next fight

By Boxing News - 07/10/2013 - Comments

rigondeaux111`By Chris Williams: WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (12-0, 8 KO’s) may have done a great job of beating WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire in schooling him badly in a fight televised by HBO last April from New York, but HBO has no interest in televising Rigondeaux’s next fight, according to Dan Rafael.

Rigondeaux’s promoter Bob Arum says HBO doesn’t want to televise Rigondeaux’s next fight and he’s not sure what he’ll do for his next fight.

Arum said to Rafael at ESPN “Every time I mention him [Rigondeaux], they throw up. So I have to figure out who I could put him in with.”

Don’t hold your breath waiting for Arum to put Rigondeaux in with his fighter WBO featherweight champion Mikey Garcia, because I think Arum has learned his lesson about putting Rigondeaux in with his popular fighters. He saw what Rigondeaux did to Donaire, and it’s going to be tough for Arum to try and build back Donaire’s credibility with boxing fans after that kind of an embarrassing loss.

It doesn’t matter if Arum is matching Donaire against a past his prime Vic Darchinyan in November, boxing fans aren’t going to forget how easily Donaire was beaten by Rigondeaux. Donaire can destroy Darchinyan again, but that’s not going to change people’s perception about Donaire.

The only way Arum can do that is by either putting him back in with Rigondeaux so that Donaire can try and avenge his defeat, or he has to put Donaire in with a dangerous opponent like Yuriokis Gamboa.

Arum won’t put Donaire in with Gamboa even if Gamboa were willing to come down from lightweight to make the fight happen. Arum also won’t match Donaire back up with Rigondeaux. A fight like that would finish off Donaire to the point where boxing fans would likely see him as damaged good if Rigondeaux schooled him again.

Rigondeaux is in a bad situation. Arum likely won’t match Rigondeaux against WBC super bantamweight champion Victor Terrazas either, because he’s someone that Arum will likely match against Donaire after he takes care of the 37-year-old Darchinyan in November.



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