Vasyl “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko Vs Guillermo “El Cachon” Rigondeaux Coming Soon? – Breaking News!
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By Joshua “City” Brewer
Word on the street is that one of the biggest and most anticipated fights in boxing is on the verge of being signed, sealed, and delivered. I must preface by saying that for the many casual fans who tune into boxing here and there, you may not even know these two fighters. That said, Top Rank Promotions is currently negotiating a fight between pound for pound standouts Vasyl “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko, 9-1, 7 KO’s, and Guillermo “El Cachon” Rigondeaux, 17-0, 11 KO’s. This is a die-hard boxing fan’s dream. Seriously, there are people literally salivating at the fact that this fight is being made and have been for a long time. For many purists, this fight is almost like having a boxing video game and creating two characters with perfect attributes and having them face off. Though these fighters aren’t exactly perfect, they’re certainly two of the best amateurs in the history of the sport and their skill has translated to the professional ranks with almost little challenge.
Consider this, both of these fighters have twice won Olympic Gold. Rigondeaux, or Rigo, won his medals at the 2000 Sydney, Australia, and 2004 Athens, Greece, Olympic Games, respectively. For Lomachenko, or Loma, his came at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, and London, England. Just the sheer fact that these two were able to compete at the highest of the amateur level and win back to back Gold Medals is a feat in itself. To put matters into even greater perspective, Rigondeaux had a record of 475-12. Insane, right? Not to be outdone, Lomachenko’s amateur record was 396-1. Yes, you read that correctly. The list goes on, to the point where I could write a single article on their amateur feats alone. But you came here for the pro fight that’s about to take place. Back to the fight at hand.
Both fighters started out their professional careers at a high rate as they looked to get into title contention in as expedient of fashion as possible. You’re probably asking yourself how fast is fast. Well, Lomachenko won a world title, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight title to be exact, in only his third fight. Not only that, he beat a guy in Gary Russell, JR., who was widely considered to be the hottest prospect in boxing at one point and virtually viewed as an almost guaranteed pound for pound heir. ShowStats, Showtime’s ‘unofficial’ punch-stat counter, had Russell, JR., landing 83 of 806 punches to Lomachenko’s 183 of 597. Let that sink in. Since that time, and now 10 fights in, Lomachenko is a two time world champion in two different weight classes. Don’t expect it to end there.
As far as Rigondeaux, he was out of the gate like a lightning rod as well, initially. He had a ‘title’ in his third fight as well but far as a truly recognized title, he had the interim World Boxing Association (WBA) super bantamweight title by his seventh fight and picked up the regular WBA super bantamweight title by his ninth. In the midst of his run, Rigo thoroughly outboxed a guy in Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire who was at the time considered by many, deservingly, to be one of the 10 best boxers in the world, pound for pound. He put an end to Donaire’s impressive run and Donaire was never the same. Rigondeaux’s skill is so vast that he’s made almost every fighter he’s faced look ordinary.
He’s been so many levels above his competition that several of his fights have been unwatchable for many people. This is mainly due to the fact that though he’s shown that he has tremendous pop in his punches, he uses his offense sparingly at times while showing that he had the ability to dissect his opponents in easy fashion.
For Rigondeaux, this would be his first trip beyond super bantamweight. Rigondeaux is seven years Lomachenko’s senior at age 36 and we didn’t really get much of an indication on where he’s at based on his last fight because it was a one round no contest. He’d essentially be jumping up two weight classes from 122 to 130 pounds for the Lomachenko fight. Over the last three years he’s only fought three times, not exactly active. He has, though, been very active on social media and using that as a guide one would think that this weight jump won’t be an issue. This is by no means meant to allude to weight being a factor as we’ve seen many boxers move up and accomplish great things when it was thought that weight would be a factor. Taking that into account this will surely come down to which fighter wants it more.
Lomachenko is regarded by many as the current #1 pound for pound fighter in the world. Rigondeaux is regarded as one of the top 10 pound for pound fighters in the world, and could be higher if he’d had more activity over the last few years. Depending on who you ask, Rigondeaux may be considered #1 pound for pound. I’ll let you all be the judges in that regard. Lomachenko is a fighter who is very much about putting on the best possible performance he can from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. It’s expected that he’d take the lead on the offensive end. That said, Rigondeaux has shown that when the competition rises he’s able to make the best of the best look ordinary and can hurt you if he chooses.
It’s hard to imagine Rigondeaux being able to nullify Lomachenko’s offense and at the same time it’s hard to imagine Lomachenko getting off at will on Rigondeaux. That makes this fight a dream fight because it’s so interesting. Both of these fighters have their legion of followers who think that they can do no wrong. Their reflexes are top notch. They have excellent footwork and angles. They have all the tools offensively and defensively. From a pure boxing perspective, they are essentially equal. How will Rigondeaux carry the extra weight? Has Lomachenko finally met his match defensively? Will Rigondeaux be the first to truly hurt Lomachenko with a (or many) clean punch? Will Lomachenko be the first boxer to stop Rigondeaux? This makes things all the more interesting.
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