Rigondeaux willing to fight Donaire at a catch-weight

By Boxing News - 12/02/2013 - Comments

rigondeaux111`By Chris Williams: WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (12-0, 8 KO’s) says he’ll fight featherweight Nonito Donaire (32-2, 21 KO’s) in a rematch at a catch-weight of 123 lbs. if Donaire doesn’t rehydrate 10 pounds above that weight and come into the fight as a lightweight at 133 lbs. to fight him. Rigondeaux wants to beat Donaire again, but he doesn’t want to be in the ring with a lightweight on the night of the fight.

Rigondeaux beat Donaire by a 12 round unanimous decision last April, and Donaire is starting to make noise finally about wanting a rematch to try and avenge his embarrassing defeat. However, Donaire has a lot of healing he has to do after suffering a small fracture of his left orbital bone from his fight against Vic Darchinyan last month. Donaire will be out of the ring until the March or April of next year, and that’s if his injury heals properly because he’s hoping that it’ll heal without surgery.

“Donaire thought I was the easiest fighter out there,” Rigondeaux said told the Miami Herald. “Now he’s out there clamoring for a rematch. If he is willing to come down to 123 pounds and not weigh more than 10 pounds the next day, I would be willing to give him another beating. I am waiting for him to win another belt so I could take that one from him as well.”

Rigondeaux’s request for Donaire to come down to 133 to fight him may be the kiss of death for him ever getting another fight against Donaire, because 37-year-old Vic Darchinyan, who is more of a super flyweight than a super bantamweight, tried to get Donaire to fight him at a catch-weight for their fight last month, but he was refused. Darchinyan than has to move up to featherweight to fight the larger Donaire and he ended up getting stopped in the 9th round.

Rigondeaux has a fight this Saturday night against Joseph Agbeko (29-4, 22 KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. Rigondeaux must win this fight to keep alive any chance he has of getting a 2nd fight against Donaire. A loss for Rigondeaux could give Donaire an excuse not to have to fight Rigondeaux again, because he could point to his defeat against Agbeko as the reason for choosing not to fight him again. But it’s not likely that Rigondeaux will lose to Agbeko, because he’s just a much better fighter than Agbeko and this fight has mismatch written all over it. Agbeko isn’t in the league of Donaire, and he’s facing a much better fighter in Rigondeaux.



Comments are closed.