“We fought the Cuban boxing way. Hit and don’t get hit,” Rigondeaux’s trainer, Pedro Diaz, insisted.
“We made Donaire look very bad.”
In a fight that resembled a tactical chess match between two uber-skilled geniuses, the 2012 Fighter of the Year was effectively outboxed by a slippery technician from Cuba.
There’s a new big star on the boxing scene and his name is Guillermo Rigondeaux. In the most anticipated super bantamweight bout in years, WBA champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (12-0, 8 KOs) outboxed and outfoxed Nonito Donaire (31-2, 20 KOs) , winning a unanimous unanimous decision to become the RING Magazine/Lineal super bantamweight champion and “The Man” in the division.
Less importantly, Rigo unified the WBA and WBO titles.
Rigondeaux started well, buckling his foe early in Round 1. He would win that round as well as a relatively action-packed Rounds 2 and 3.
Round 4 started slow but a momentary brawl erupted up as the two got into heated exchanges towards the round’s conclusion. After seemingly tasting each other’s power, the fighters appeared to be a bit more tentative and the bout, which had been tense with action in short bursts, morphed into chess match.
The boo birds came out in Rounds 5-9 as Rigondeaux, unphased, used his superior hand speed and immaculate footwork to land effective strikes while avoiding Donaire’s artillery and, more specifically, his potent left hook – the biggest weapon in the sport. The ‘hit and run’ tactics of the Cuban didn’t exactly make Donaire vs Rigondeaux a Fight of the Year candidate nor were they aesthetically pleasing to the casual fan but they proved very effective.
Speed Kills Rigondeaux refused to be a stationary target and occasionally, and quite literally, ran from Donaire… Nevertheless, he used his superior speed to out-land the ‘Flash’ in overall punches and powershots from Rounds 5-9 and in 11 of the 12 rounds.
Perhaps Rigo’s advantage in speed was the biggest surprise. Prior to the bout, many believed their speed was comparable but Rigo appeared to be definitively quicker than his Filipino foe.
Round 10 – The Knockdown Perhaps sensing he needed to do something spectacular to win, Donaire came out blazing in Round 10.
He caught the allusive Cuban, tied him up, and then floored him with a right hand coming off the clinch.
Shaken but not seriously hurt, Rigo used his footwork to evade the oncoming Donaire and gather himself to clear his head. This was Donaire’s best round and he landed some hard volleys from outside while Rigo was on queer street but the Cuban was just too good and too fast to be trapped.
By the end of the round, things had settled down as Rigo once again resumed control of the bout’s tempo.
Round 12 In the 12th, Rigondeaux popped an aggressive Donaire with a hard shot to the Flash’s right eye that stopped the Filipino dead in his tracks.
Visibly jolted, now it was Donaire backpedaling with Rigo pursuing as the ‘Flash’ now appeared overly concerned with his eye. Noticing Donaire was wounded, Rigo went on the attack and trapped Donaire against the ropes, landing combnations.
But Donaire, who may have suffered a broken orbital bone in that round, refused to submit and Rigo reverted back to the cautious, defensive fighter he was in Rounds 5-9.
Rigo had closed the show with an exclamation point, enjoying his best round of the fight.
The final scores were: 114-113, 115-112, 116-111.
Quotes:
Rigondeaux: “The people that know boxing saw that it was a very good fight, it was quality and I made him look the way he looked, which was bad, and I looked great…(I was) boxing and moving. He was frustrated and with one shot you just don’t win a fight.”
Donaire: “To be honest with you, for the last three fights, I’m not taking anything away from Rigondeaux, but I needed surgery on my shoulder. I tore my ligaments for about three years…I’m going to go back to the drawing board, get this shoulder fixed, but again he played a beautiful boxing game and it was my mistake for not changing up.”
Donaire: “I apologize,” Donaire said. “I wanted to deliver. During the last two rounds, I got stupid. I didn’t do my job. I didn’t use my jab and go to my left. I have no excuse. He beat me tonight. I gave it all I got. I never studied the fight and I should have.”
Timothy Bradley: “I saw Nonito looking for one punch,” current WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley said. “It seemed like he was looking for one punch. He was following him around the ring but the thing about the Cubans is that they’re so smart. That’s why you kept seeing that right hand around the head. That’s Cuban style fighting. That’s what they do.”
Donaire vs Rigondeaux Stats & Facts Rigo landed 129 of 396 punches while Donaire landed only 82 of 352 punches Donaire landed only 3 punches in Round 6 When the fight concluded, Donaire headed to Rigondeaux’s corner and told him he was the best. The fight was the second in the 82-year history of Radio City Music Hall. The other was in 2000 when Roy Jones Jr. retained the light heavyweight championship against David Telesco in 2000. Promoters said a crowd of 6,145 fans attended the fight. This was Donaire’s first loss since his second pro fight 12 years ago. Donaire had trouble making weight and hinted we’ll be seeing him next at featherweight, 4 lbs north of super bantamweight Donaire vs Rigondeaux Purses: Donaire – $1.32 Million USD; Rigondeaux -$750,000 USD
