By Chris Williams: It looks like WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) will be facing fellow Top Rank promoted WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) on April 13th. Thesweetscience.com is reporting that a source has informed them that Rigondeaux “has agreed to terms” for a fight with Donaire for April 13th.
All I can say to this is Bob Arum, the promoter for both Donaire and Rigondeaux, sure didn’t wait very long to make the Donaire-Rigondeaux fight after rejecting the $3 million offer from Golden Boy Promotions for a fight between Mares and Donaire. Why would Arum move on so quickly after receiving such a huge offer? It doesn’t make sense. It makes you think that this is the fight that Arum wanted all along – Donaire vs. Rigondeaux.
At any rate, the Donaire-Rigondeaux fight will be an in house Top Rank fight, and that’s pretty much the only reason I can think of for why it’s being made. Do you honestly think Arum would risk putting Donaire in with a fighter at good as Rigondeaux is if the Cuban star wasn’t one of Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters? I know I don’t. Rigondeaux would likely never get a shot against Donaire.
If you look at the guys that Donaire has been fighting recently, aging veterans Jorge Arce and Toshiaki Nishiokia, Rigondeaux really stands apart from them as a dramatic departure. He’s not old, he’s not fighting like he’s old, and he’s not heading for retirement. Rigondeaux is a real threat to beating Donaire in my view.
I actually think Rigondeaux is a better fighter than Mares, and a much tougher fight for Donaire because he’s not someone that’s going to come at Donaire and leave himself open like most of Donaire’s past opponents have foolishly done. Rigondeaux is an expert counter puncher with incredibly fast hands, huge power, excellent defensive skills and perhaps the best body puncher in boxing right now. Rigondeaux does incredibly well against fighters like Donaire, who swing for the fences with left hooks.
Donaire can forget all about loading up with his left hook because if he does that against Rigondeaux, he’s going to get dropped with a body shot. Donaire will have to change his entire game plan if he doesn’t want to get knocked out in this fight, and I think Donaire is too old to change his way of fighting. He’s going to go out there against Rigondeaux thinking knockout and he’s going to get hit with a body shot that is going to put him down for the count.
This fight could make a huge star out of Rigondeaux if he dominates and stops Donaire. At the very least, it’ll get him a rematch.
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