SONAHR: December 8, 2013 – What a fantastic weekend this was for fight fans! On one night, more top-flight matchups were featured than there are in most months. It was a great way to end the year, and a solid counter-punch to those who insist that boxing is dying.
The results of the bouts ranged from middleweight Felix Sturm?s two-round beatdown of Darren Barker to Guillermo Rigondeaux?s shutout of Joseph ?King Kong? Agbeko. In between, there were Paulie Malinaggi?s ?Battle of Brooklyn? decision over Zab Judah, and James Kirkland?s brutal six-round wearing down of previously undefeated Glen Tapia.
And among all these stars showing their wares, there was nary a heavyweight to be seen. As the 21st century progresses, it becomes more and more clear that the heavyweights are no longer boxing?s flagship division. It?s all about lesser-weight stars now, such as Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Andre Ward, and Bernard Hopkins. Other than Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, the big boys are an afterthought.
Arguably, the biggest name on Saturday?s cards was that of Rigondeaux, who is the most-accomplished 13-fight pro ever. Of course, the Cuban expatriate had an amateur career spanning more than 400 fights and two Olympic gold medals. Since entering the punch-for-pay ranks, Rigondeaux has made seasoned professionals look like ? well, amateurs.
In March, Rigondeaux established his superstar credentials by thoroughly bamboozling Nonito Donaire, who was 2012?s Fighter of the Year and among the top three in pound-for-pound ratings. One judge?s 118-111 scorecard for Rigondeaux managed to reflect the one-sided nature of the bout. The others ? 115-112 and an inexplicable 114-113 ? were terrible.
There was no such discrepancy in the scoring of the Rigondeaux-Agbeko contest, in which the Cuban?s WBA, WBO and Ring magazine junior-featherweight titles were at stake. All three officials tabbed it 120-108, not giving Agbeko a single round among them.
Even though he once held the IBF bantamweight bauble, Agbeko is no Donaire. But he isn?t a tomato can, either, and he was expected to press Rigondeaux, to make him work for the expected win. Rigondeaux did, indeed, work. But his level of skill was so far above his opponents that his effort looked effortless. The crowd booed in boredom as the Cuban ring wizard hit Agbeko for 12 repetitious rounds while rarely getting hit in return.
Does pro boxing need a ?mercy? rule? Should the referee have the option of stopping a bout that is one-sided even though the losing fighter doesn?t get knocked down or hurt, so that the crowd doesn?t have to suffer through round after round of watching paint dry? But then the losing fighter might get lucky and land a miracle punch to win, or at least turn the bout around. That?s a rare occurrence. But the possibility is sufficient to preclude the establishment of a ?mercy? rule in pro boxing, though one does exist among the amateurs. Besides, referees take enough heat for supposedly stopping bouts prematurely.
Crowd-pleasing or not, Rigondeaux is at the top of his game. It will take an extraordinary fighter to force him out of his current comfort zone. He is an Ali in search of a Frazier. Charles R. Saunders is the author of several books including Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers in the Maritimes from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace, as well as the Imaro series of fantasy/adventure novels. Considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on boxing in Canada, he is the current Vice-President of Boxing for the Society of North American Sports Historians and Researchers. His award-winning novel, Damballa, which centers around a fictional heavyweight title bout, is available at Amazon.com.
