Rigondeaux's a NATURAL 118 Pounder, so a Catchweight BENEFITS him for Certain... The X-Factor is, HOW Does Lomachenko Handle Rigondeaux's Power???...AND, Does he Continue to FORCE the Issue After Eating the HARDEST Counter Punches he's Ever Felt???...Rigondeaux's a LITTLE Dude, but Motherfucker Can PUNCH... REED:mj:
As REED Types, Lomachenko IS NOT as Big a "Name" as Nonito Donaire Was, when Rigondeaux Schooled Him...In Fact, Donaire was Coming Off "Fighter of the Year" Honors, w/Multiple HBO/Showtime Bouts... Nonetheless, the Networks STILL Shut Rigondeaux Out...Unless the Networks Pony Up a GUARANTEED Contract (2-3-4 Fights or Whatever), He Should @ Least ASK for a Catchweight 1st, w/Out Sacrificing the Fight Altogether, Obviously... The Bottom Line, Rigondeaux will Be THE Biggest "Name" Lomachenko's Faced, but the Same CAN'T Be Said in Reverse... REED:mj:
I'm more than confident, even as a fan of Donaire, that Lomachenko would have beaten him handily also. I can't base my prediction off of that fight alone (not taking away from Rigo's performance), it's a silly way to judge a fight like this.
At one point I liked Donaire, mainly for crushing the Armenian rat, but he became very overrated. He was very limited in his own way, looked average if forced to lead. Still, it was an incredible performance, Gondo totally shut him down and dominated him. Chenko is a lot better than Donaire for my money, and bigger.
This sounds daft, but...Donaire was losing his hair, his face had gotten fat, he looked like he was drinking and he marked up really easily. I think he was in decline when Rigo beat him and maybe wasn;t any good when not fighting midget fighters.
I think the opposite. He'll win and they'll Blackball him further and claim he's boring etc for knocking off a potential hbo star
There is some truth to that for sure. I think he was possibly in decline despite being young, and definitely the weight class played a big factor. Dunno if you remember, but as soon as he fought Vazquez I said "Donaire won't be anywhere near as good in this weight class". If his excellent counter left hook doesn't have much effect, he's simply not that good. Either way, he hasn't looked good since the Montiel fight. Gondo's performance was unbelievable, but I reckon that fight made Gondo look even better than he is. I think the Donaire Gondo fought, in that weight class, was not an elite fighter, basically.
Nice HINDSIGHT Assessment of Rigondeaux-Donaire... Damn Shame NOBODY (Like Those that Awarded him 'Fighter of the Year', for Instance) Saw Any Signs of This in Donaire, PRIOR to that Bout... REED:mj:
I'm man enough to admit, maybe I jumped the gun. I'm not sure who wins this fight right now. What I do know is - if Rigo's gonna win this fight, it has to be NOW! He's no spring chicken, whereas Loma is only 27, and probably won't even PEAK for another 2 yrs or so.
I did, and I'd been saying it since the Vazquez fight. Still picked him though, thought his power will still do the job on little Gondo.
Loma's WSB fights shouldn't count on his pro record, but they are the equivalent of pro fights against solid competition so he's not as inexperienced as a 'pro' as his record would suggest. Rigondeaux is a lot better than Lomachenko. As long as he is trying to win and doesn't lock up, he'll win clearly.
So Basically, You Burned the Candle from BOTH Ends, yet Still Want CREDIT???:dunno:... By Your OWN Admission, You Said Nonito was in Decline AND Tabbed him to Beat Rigondeaux, Simultaneously... But Maybe, Just MAYBE, Donaire WASN'T in Decline & Simply Couldn't Cope w/THE Best Fighter he's EVER Shared a Ring w/???...This Isn't Really an "I Told You So" Moment, Bro... REED:mj:
Haha, I admitted I was wrong at the time. There was no "I told you so" about it. Quite simply, I'm saying you're wrong about thinking no one said Donaire was in decline or not much good at the weight class. I did, for years, and several others on Fightbeat said the same thing. For some reason though, the overwhelming consensus was that he'd beat Gongo. Gondo was seen as too chinny, and I guess we didn't realise just how good he is. Don't get me wrong, Gondo would wipe the floor with ANY version of Donaire, he's simply much better, and I'm not convinced Donaire was EVER an elite fighter. But that doesn't negate the fact that plenty of people were saying Donaire had regressed, and I was never impressed with him once he started facing people his own size.
There's certainly been plenty of evidence of decline since. It's not a slight on Rigo's ability to say he might have caught Nonito at an opportune moment.
Rigo also had the tailor made style to make Donaire look bad. Donaire is a pure counter-puncher and Rigo was always gonna force him to lead. I can't remember what my prediction was but i'd like to think i would have called that going in....
donaires problem was, as he went up in weight and fought guys his size it became evident his power wasnt dynamic. his hard punches werent hurting super bantamweights like they were flyweights. his problem against rigondeaux was that he was unable to land hard punches
Yep, completely tailor made for Gondo. Donaire's style is predicated on landing a hard counter left hook, basically. Forced to lead, he honestly looks average.
Donaire's problem is that he was getting credit for being a dynamic overall talent, when it became apparent that he's essentially just a puncher. As Neil said, only a puncher against much smaller fighters.