FRANCISCO IS RIGHT ? RIGONDEAUX IS A RUNNER NOT A FIGHTER
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 23 Nov 2015
In one of the most boring fights in recent years where the fans at the Mandalay Bay Events Center booed during the bout and raised it a few decibels when the ten round bout between undefeated two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux and one-time world title challenger Drian Francisco, appeared to justify the World Boxing Organization decision to strip Rigondeaux of his super bantamweight title for inactivity.
In a post fight interview Rigondeaux said ?I feel terrific after the fight. He (Francisco) threw heavy shots but his style was nothing on mine. My style outmatched his.?
He said ?I definitely wanted to give the fans a better fight so I need to get back into the gym, get more active to give a better performance. I promise with the tools I have now after
signing with Roc Nation that next time I?ll be explosive.?
A disappointed Francisco put it best when he criticized Rigondeaux referring to him as ?a runner not a fighter. He is afraid of getting hurt and doesn?t want to fight. I felt pressured into being the aggressor during this fight because he wasn?t fighting, he was running away. He is not a power puncher and won by points. I trained really hard for this fight and I feel like it was a waste of time because I didn?t encounter a fighter tonight.?
Certainly, the condemnation of his inactivity was also clearly evident in the bout against Francisco, someone who was a last minute choice after Roc Nation signed up Rigondeaux for some $10 million which raises the question of whether it was a good investment considering Rigondeaux?s inability to excite fans and to draw half-decent attendance at his fights.
Rigondeaux faced Francisco after the Cuban had an almost eleven month period of inactivity and although he was fairly sharp using his jab and moving around well, but his tendency to clinch also took something away from his marketability.
In fact, we felt that referee Kenny Bayless should have cautioned Rigondeaux to ?get it on? since fight fans paid good money to watch the fights at the Mandalay Bay Events Center where even the main event between Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez, the newly crowned WBC middleweight and Ring Magazine champion overpowered an ageing Miguel Cotto was a relative disappointment and failed to live up to the pre-fight hype but was, in fairness to both boxers, competitive and a test of power versus ring savvy.
By far the best fight of the evening which saved the day for the promotion was the war between unbeaten Mexican super featherweight Francisco Vargas and dethroned World Boxing Council champion Takashi Miura of Japan who lost his title to Vargas when referee Tony Weeks very correctly called a halt at 1:31 of the ninth round.
It was a brutal bout from the opening bell with both fighters getting rocked and dropped by hellacious shots before a sudden twist in round nine when Vargas, who looked in trouble, suddenly dug deep to drop Miura and then battered him mercilessly to force Tony Weeks to stop it.
While enjoying the fights on TV 5 we realized that Rigondeaux suffered in comparison to fighters like Vargas and Miura and in that sense seemed to justify his being stripped of the title.
After all this is the fight game and boxers like Rigondeaux certainly don?t help the sport which is facing intense competition from the various forms of mixed martial arts.
Hopefully, former five division world champion Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? who has shown amazing form in training for his showdown against Mexico?s Cesar Juarez in Puerto Rico on December 13, Manila Time, will keep up with his promise to put on a show and regain the respect he earned when he was named ?Fighter of the Year? in 2012.
Donaire told us in a telephone conversation early this morning he would help put a smile on our face and lift the spirits of his countrymen when he battles and hopefully batters Juarez on December 13.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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