Nonito Donaire is in danger of losing Saturday for the first time in 12 years, but sometimes Guillermo Rigondeaux doesn?t seem like a live opponent.
Top Rank held a telephone press conference Tuesday in New York, ostensibly starring Saturday?s combatants, who have sold out Radio City Music Hall and will appear on HBO. But Rigondeaux, who speaks only Spanish, could not be heard directly and it felt like his Caribe Promotions translator was inventing the answers by proxy.
So Donaire had to carry the press conference, and you can only hope the fight for supremacy in the 122-pound division is less one-sided.
At the very least, Tuesday?s event probably swayed no new appreciation for the WBA champion Rigondeaux?s talent, much less new appreciation for the former two-time former Olympic gold medalist from Cuba as a person.
Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 knockouts) is older and shorter than Donaire (31-1, 20 knockouts) and has no comparable pro experience. But he may be as quick as Donaire and might be as formidable a power puncher, too. And, like Donaire, he is a master counter-puncher.
More than a few people have been picking Rigondeaux in this fight since long before the terms were set a couple of months ago. But the excitement level has been disappointing afar, and in the Bay Area we?re all obsessed by Robert Guerrero?s May date with Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Showtime pay-per-view.
This could be a tough year for the Bay Area?s kingpin trio. Donaire and Guerrero could each lose this spring, and Andre Ward is only now coming back from the injury that prevented him from fighting Kelly Pavlik in January.
Keep in mind though, that only Guerrero is an underdog. Donaire is the house fighter Saturday and figures to get the benefit of the doubt if it?s a close fight. Rigondeaux will have to be aggressive eventually.
Donaire went so far Tuesday as to suggest Rigondeaux faces the same quandary left-handed Japanese counter-puncher Toshiaki Nishioka faced against Donaire last October. After a super-cautious Nishioka lost the first four rounds, he was forced to make the fight, and Donaire hammered him when he did.
?With Nishioka,? Donaire said, ?at the moment he thought he could lure me, ultimately my tactic was well played and he succumbed to the tactic where he tried to reach in. . . .That?s the same thing that will happen with Rigondeaux.?
It?s possible Top Rank?s Bob Arum ensured that scenario when he put the match together, as he stressed that Rigondeaux needed to become more exciting in the ring. Rigondeaux apparently agreed. ?I?ll try to engage a lot more than I have in the past,? Rigondeaux said via the translator in his most engaging quote of the session ?I want to give the fans what they want to see, so there?ll be a lot of fireworks.?
Well, Saturday is the best time for that, but as of now there seems to be less spark all around than there should be.
