Guillermo Rigondeaux: Should He Move Up To Featherweight?

 Loading ...

By “The Aficionado” Alan J. Kindred

Since defeating Nonito Donaire, 34-3, 22 KO’s, over two years ago in a big fight to win the lineal Junior Featherweight world championship, Guillermo Rigondeaux, 15-0, 10 KO’s, has struggled to find fights, much less a big one. He has had only three fights in the last two years, and has no fight currently scheduled. For a fighter of his quality and skill set this is a travesty and shame. Why is it that a fighter near the top of the pound for pound rankings is finding so few fights, and no big fights since Donaire?

The primary reason he isn’t finding big fights in his own division with say Carl Frampton, 20-0, 14 KO’s, or Scott Quigg, 30-0-2, 22 KO’s, is a reluctance of these fighters and their teams to get in the ring with Rigondeaux. The primary reason he isn’t getting that many fights is that his previous promoter Top Rank appeared to lose interest in him after he defeated one their lower weight cash cows, in Donaire. This writer believes these two problems compound upon each other, although the fault may be predominantly with his promoters. Top Rank CEO has actually bad mouthed his own fighter at the time, in Rigondeaux, saying he is boring, unentertaining, and that no one wants to watch him fight. The funny thing about that is before the Donaire fight Rigondeaux was being featured on many of Top Ranks PPV shows. He didn’t seem to be deemed too boring then. Top Ranks behavior switched to such a severity, I question their ethics, and wonder if they expected Rigondeaux to throw the fight against the more economically favorable Donaire. Why treat a fighter who won a really big fight with neglect? His knockout percentage is not particularly low, as it would be with some other fighters deemed boring. Is Rigondeaux more boring to watch than a safety first fighter like Floyd Mayweather? This is why I don’t buy the whole Rigondeaux is boring charade. He isn’t boring, he is fascinating to watch, even to the casuals, and yes I’ve seen them marvel at his skills and speed. They called him “The Matrix” like the Keanu Reeves movie, and enjoyed watching him apply his craft. The diehards love him even more, yet Bob Arum held him back. He is now with Caribe promotions headed by Gary Hyde, but the damage from Top Rank has already been done. It may be true his ratings are not super high, but this is more due to bad promotion or a grudge, than his actual skill set being dull to watch. The fact that his ratings are low and he doesn’t bring a lot of money to the table are the reasons big name Jr. Featherweight dance partners like Frampton and Quigg do not want any. Rigondeaux is too much risk and not enough reward.

He is also nearing 35 years of age, and that is getting well up there in the lower weight classes. If he doesn’t want the Donaire fight to be his only big fight, he needs to make a drastic move. He may want to consider moving up four pounds to Featherweight, because he may find some big names there that are willing to test their mettle against him, due to their size advantage. Rigondeaux against Nicholas Walters, 25-0, 21 KO’s, Vasyl Lomachenko, 4-1, 2KO’s, Leo Santa Cruz, 30-0-1, 17 KO’s, Lee Selby, 21-1, 8 KO’s, Miguel Marriaga, 20-0, 18 KO’s, Abner Mares, 29-1-1, 15 KO’s, or Gary Russell Jr., 26-1, 15 KO’s, would all be compelling and big fights for Rigondeaux. I would imagine he be favored in a few of these match ups, despite his size disparity. He is that skilled. At 5’4 and with a 68 inch reach he may be a bit small for the Featherweight ranks, but there have been smaller champions at Featherweight. Rather than toil in obscurity at Jr. Featherweight with no willing big name challengers, why not try his luck with the big names at Featherweight. If he were to move up, an already hot division would become perhaps the best in boxing.

[si-contact-form form=’2′]