By Chris Williams: Vasyl Lomachenko (8-1, 6 KOs) has a big fight if he’s interested in fighting 2-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs). The unbeaten Cuban talent has called out Lomachenko repeatedly in the last week asking initially for a fight at 126. That offer did not perk up interest by Lomachenko thus far. Rigondeaux has now offered to move up 2 weight classes to fight Lomachenko at 130. Rigondeaux says he’s still not hearing Lomachenko agree to the fight despite him being willing to fight in his weight class at super featherweight.
There’s no reason why Lomachenko wouldn’t take the fight with Rigondeaux right now. Lomachenko would have all the advantages in the fight with him being bigger, stronger and already acclimated to the weight class. Rigondeaux, a small fighter for super bantamweight, but he is willing to move up super featherweight to take on the 29-year-old Lomachenko if he’s on board with taking on the talented Cuban fighter. The fact that Lomachenko is silent with Rigondeaux’s latest offer suggests that he doesn’t want the fight. Rigondeaux originally offered to move up to 126 to fight Lomachenko at featherweight if he’d move down 4 pounds. That offer didn’t work for Rigondeaux, as Lomachenko didn’t agree to the fight.
”Apparently that #hightech gear got a virus or was hacked by the Russians because even after me saying yes2 130lb is not responding! #old school — Guillermo Rigondeaux (@RigoElChacal305) June 26, 2017,” said Rigondeaux.
This is a last ditch effort by Rigondeaux to try and make a fight with Lomachenko happen. Lomachenko is planning on moving up 5 pounds to the lightweight division soon to begin campaigning in that weight class. If Rigondeaux can’t get him to meet right now at 130, then the fight won’t happen. Lomachenko doesn’t appear to fancy the fight against Rigondeaux. I guess you can say that Rigondeaux is more trouble than he’s worth. Lomachenko isn’t fast of hand, and he might end up getting possibly beaten by Rigondeaux the way we saw with Moises Flores on June 17. Flores couldn’t hit anything, as he missed repeatedly in trying to land his punches against Rigondeaux.
Lomachenko has already suffered a loss Orlando Salido several years ago in 2014. If Rigondeaux beats him too, it might be hard for Lomachenko to come up with an excuse to explain away the loss. Some boxing fans blamed Lomachenko’s defeat to Salido on him being bigger than him. It was a poor excuse, but it was believed by a lot of people. If Lomachenko can’t beat Rigondeaux even with a significant weight advantage, then there’s no weight excuse that be used by him in that case.
It’s unclear why Lomachenko hasn’t accepted to take the fight with Rigondeaux. As of now, Lomachenko doesn’t have any big fights that are comparable to a fight with Rigondeaux. A fight against WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia won’t be taking place anytime soon for Lomachenko, because he still hasn’t made the move up in weight to the 135 pound weight class. Mikey Garcia has a fight scheduled next month against Adrien Broner on July 29 at 140.
It seems like the smart thing for Lomachenko to do right now is for him to fight Rigondeaux so that he can be involved in the biggest fight of his pro career. Of course, if Lomachenko isn’t confident he can win the fight, it makes sense for him to avoid it.
Did Rigondeaux, 36, scare Lomachenko off with his recent 1st round knockout win over No.1 ranked WBA contender Moises “Chucky” Flores on June 17 on HBO pay-per-view? Rigondeaux looked remarkable in blasting out Flores in one round. The fight result was subsequently overturned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who changed the result to a no contest due to Rigondeaux landing a left hand after the bell. It was a strange knockout.
Flores didn’t look hurt after getting hit, but when the referee came in between them to stop Rigondeaux from holding and hitting, Flores dropped to the canvas. Some boxing fans think Flores faked the knockout in hopes of winning by a disqualification. Fortunately for Rigondeaux, the fight ended with a no contest instead of a disqualification.
If a fight between them is to happen, Rigondeaux will need to move up to divisions and 8 entire pounds to fight at 130. 8 pounds might not seem like a lot of weight to many boxing fans, but it’s a lot when you’re fighting at 122. It would be a real risky fight for Rigondeaux to move up 2 divisions to fight Lomachenko at 130. Lomachenko would have a big weight advantage. But it’s theoretically possible for Rigondeaux to still take the fight with Lomachenko at 130 if his promoters at Top Rank would make a big offer to get the Cuban champion to move up to fight him. I don’t know that they will though.
If Rigondeaux has to move up 2 divisions to fight Lomachenko for small money, then there would be no reason for him to take the fight. It’s one thing to be the A-side in the negotiations, but when you set it up to where your opponent has virtually no chance of winning due to the weight, then there’s no point in the fight happening.
We saw recently how Saul Canelo Alvarez beat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. by setting up the fight conditions where Chavez Jr. had to come down to 164 ½ lbs. to fight at a catch-weight, despite the fact that Chavez Jr. had proven that he can’t make the 168 lb. weight on repeated occasions. Chavez Jr. ended up taking the fight and making the catch-weight limit, but he was too weight drained to fight. But instead of Canelo looking like a hero in winning an easy fight, he ended up looking bad in beating up in a weight drained fighter who was too weak to fight.
Rigondeaux vs. Lomachenko would be a great fight due to the fact that both fighters are 2-time Olympic gold medalists. Lomachenko would have more to lose in getting beaten than Rigondeaux, since he’s already been beaten and he’s got a potential big fight against Mikey Garcia in the near future. What better way for Lomachenko to build up the Mikey Garcia fight than to take on Rigondeaux and defeat him.
Lomachenko is a pound for pound top fighter in boxing. However, Lomachenko hasn’t beaten a talented fighter with superb boxing skills in the class of Rigondeaux since he turned pro 4 years ago in 2013. The guys that Lomachenko has on his resume are fighters like Roman Martinez, Jason Sosa and Nicholas Walters. Those are good pros, but not great boxers. It would look good if Lomachenko at least tried to make the fight with Rigondeaux before he moves up to lightweight, considering this would be a match-up for the boxing public. It would be a bout that the fans would want to see. It’s a bad look for Lomachenko to walk away from a fight with Rigondeaux after being called out repeatedly.