Lomachenko not interested in Rigondeaux fight at a catch-weight or at 122, he has to come up to 126

By Boxing News - 03/21/2015 - Comments

lomachenko566789By Chris Williams: If the WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KOs) wants a fight against the bigger, taller, and heavier WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (3-1, 1 KOs), Rigondeaux will have to move up to featherweight and fight the 27-year-old Lomachenko in his weight class, because he refuses to accommodate the smaller 5’4” Rigondeaux by fighting him at a catch-weight in between the super bantamweight and featherweight divisions.

It doesn’t make sense for Rigondeaux to come up in weight to fight Lomachenko, because he doesn’t have a huge fan base in the U.S.

It would be a fight strictly for the hardcore boxing fans. It’s not like the Rigondeaux vs. Nonito Donaire fight that took place in 2013.

Donaire had a huge fan base and was considered by many to be the No.1 fighter in the 122 pound division. After waiting for ages to get that fight, Rigondeaux was finally able to get the fight, and he ended up schooling Donaire badly.

With Lomachenko, it wouldn’t be a big deal for Rigondeaux to fight him, because he doesn’t bring much to the table. Lomachenko has already been beaten by Orlando Salido, who battered him with body shots in their fight in March 2014. Lomachenko never avenged that fight.

“If he [Rigondeaux] wants me come down to his weight or to some catch-weight then I am not interested,” Lomachenko said via RingTV.com. “No. I will never come down. If you are the best, as you say, and you cleaned out the division then come on up 3 kg and fight me.”

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It doesn’t make any sense for Rigondeaux to move up in weight, because he’d be facing a much heavier Lomachenko, and it wouldn’t make sense. A fight between them would be good at a catch-weight, but definitely not at featherweight. Rigondeaux doesn’t need to be fighting a lightweight/light welterweight sized Lomachenko.

Rigondeaux is coming off of an 11th round stoppage win over the 5’10 ½” Hisashi Amagasa last December. Rigondeaux, 5’4”, was giving away almost seven inches in height to Amagasa, and this resulted in Rigondeaux getting hit a lot more than he usually does. Besides that, Rigondeaux was mixing it up a lot more than he normally does in his fights in order to make it more exciting for his boxing fans.

Lomachenko will be fighting #1 WBO Gamalier Rodriguez (25-2-3, 17 KOs) on May 2nd on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

While the World Boxing Organization has Rodriguez ranked No.1 with their organization, none of the other sanctioning bodies has him ranked even in their top 15, and this is another mismatch for Lomachenko. It’s his second straight mismatch. He defeated the highly ranked but very, very average Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo by a 12 round unanimous decision last November.

The WBO also had Piriyapinyo ranked very high. The last good opponent that Lomachenko fought is Gary Russell Jr, who he defeated by a 12 round majority decision last year in June. I had the fight scored a draw. It was a really tough fight for Lomachenko, and he had to rally in order to get the victory. I don’t think he deserved the win that fight.



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