WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (13-0, 8 KOs) is an elite-level champion who, despite outclassing every opponent he’s faced, including Nonito Donaire, is not a hit with fight fans.
The two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist, considered by some to be the greatest amateur boxer ever, may be one of the best three or four prizefighters in the world today,
So why is HBO so reluctant to showcase him?
Answer: Rigondeaux consistently gets low ratings.
HBO is obviously a for-profit business and they’re in business to increase their bottom line. High ratings is the ‘name of the game’ and never before have ratings been so crucial to the network’s success.
Until recently, HBO Boxing dominated arch rival Showtime Sports with the help of boxing’s biggest star, Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, as of last February, Mayweather and Golden Boy’s entire stable of fighters have nearly exclusively been showcased on Showtime, thanks to Mayweather’s extremely lucrative six-fight deal with the channel.
Not only is HBO’s superiority now threatened in the boxing arena, the network as a whole, still far and away the gold standard for pay television networks, is facing a formidable challenge from Showtime who is making a strong push to unseat its rival as the world’s top premium cable network.
So what does all of this have to do with Guillermo Rigondeaux?
Answer: When he fights, HBO’s numbers drop.
?[With] Rigondeaux, I have a problem,? Arum told BoxingScene.
?And you can?t really blame the network. The rating for the Kirkland-Tapia fight was almost double Rigondeaux?s rating. People [even] walked out [of the arena during the Rigondeaux fight].” “If people don?t want to watch, what do you expect a network to do?
I don?t care how good we say he is, which he is.?
Why aren’t viewers interested in a fighter so freakishly skilled?
Answer: Casual fans of the sport, as well as a decent portion of boxing’s hardcore contingent, find Rigo incredibly boring. Although his skills and technical prowess are quite literally awesome, he exercises extreme caution in the ring.
He’s not flashy like Sugar Ray Leonard or Hector Camacho nor is he a knockout artist like Thomas Hearns or Lucas Matthysse.
Rigo is an efficient, workman-like boxer who is good enough, offensively and defensively, to dominate world class opponents without taking many risks…
And that’s the problem.
Pernell Whitaker was a defensive fighter as well but he always brought some “shakin’ and bakin’ into the ring. He had a way of making opponents look downright silly for 12 rounds and it was entertaining to the masses.
But all Rigo does is dominate. There’s no style or electricity.
Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward were clearly not on Rigo’s level, skills-wise, but they defined ‘excitement’ in the ring and were interesting personalities outside it.
Like Rigo, Floyd Mayweather, the world’s highest paid athlete, is defensive and cautious in the ring, but ‘Money May’ is very, very interesting outside it. He oozes charisma and his aura, alone, makes his fights big events.
Moreover Mayweather, with his dazzling speed, showcases a sweet style in the ring. You don’t have to be knowledgeable in boxing to realize you’re watching someone special when he fights.
Pablo Picasso, middle, and one of his masterpieces, Weeping Woman 1937
Floyd Mayweather doesn’t fight a fight, he gives a performance. He is Mikhail Baryshnikov… He is Luciano Pavarotti… He is Beethoven… He is Pablo Picasso.
Well, at least boxing’s version of those fine performers.
But Rigo, although supremely skilled and athletic, doesn’t possess that kind of aura or flair.
In order to get in the good graces of fight fans and HBO, Rigo must a) alter his style of fighting or b) somehow mesmerize the masses outside the ring by taking a stand for/against certain issues, changing his image into something resembling that of a WWE character’s or take a page from Adrian Broner or Prince Naz’s playbook.
In boxing, skills wins titles but showcasing excitement and charisma will make a fighter famous. Indeed, skills will pay the bills but providing thrills and chills and/or a bit of controversy and intrigue is what really sells.
