Nonito Donaire vs Rigondeaux, April 13th [NY]

This was my dream fight for 2013. This is truly a fight for the hardcore fans. Champion vs #1 challenger. Pound 4 pound fighter in Donaire, vs a 2 time Gold Medalist in Rigondeaux, 7 time Cuban national champion with a record of over 400 wins and only 12 losses. Regarded as one of the greatest amateur fighters of all time.


Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire
WBO, WBA & Ring Super bantamweight titles. The true champ of the division.
31-1 (20 KO's)
5′ 5½″
orthodox
Last 4 fights: Jorge Arce KO3, Toshiaki Nishioka TKO9, Jeffrey Mathebula UD, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr UD



Guillermo "El Chacal" Rigondeaux
WBO Super bantamweight & WBA intern title. The true #1 challenger.
11-0 (8 KO's)
5′ 4
southpaw
Last 4 fights: Robert Marroquin UD, Teon Kennedy TKO5, Rico Ramos TKO6, Willie Casey TKO1

Presser from today:

This fight will have VADA testing as well as the standard testing by the NY Athletics department. There was some drama for a couple days regarding the testing but in the end Rigondeaux simply wanted the contract in Spanish so he could read it and everything was quickly settled from that point.

These two fights don't like eachother. Some history between camps and wives haha.

yeah man same here. I like both these guys, maybe Rigondeaux a little more.

I see this fight going one of two ways - Donaire by KO or Rigondeaux by decision.

Rigondeaux is 32 years old, he's as ready as he'll ever be . He's been a title holder for two years now.

It's a big jump in class for Donaire too. He's never fought a boxer as gifted and talented as Rigondeaux. The one thing though is size and power. Im not sure Rigondeaux can take a clean shot from Donaire. But as far as skills go you cant name more than a handful of fighters in the sport more skilled than Rigondeaux.


Yes he's only had 11 pro fights but his insanely decorated amateur career makes up for it, similar to another Olympian in Holyfield who beat the best cruiserweight in the world in Dwight Muhammad Qawi in his 12th pro fight.

Mares is easy work for Donaire, imo. Stylistically guys like Mares make Donaire sine the brightest.

Rigondeaux is a boxer, a counter puncher by nature. This will be a chess match.

Yes Rigondeaux getting hurt against Morroquin also makes me lean towards a Donaire KO. But its difficult for Donaire to land his signature left when the opponent isn't walking forward and when Donaire is forced to be the aggressor, which I believe he will be in this fight. Remember he couldn't really land anything big against Narvaez.and Vazquez because they boxed. Granted Donaire won easily on points but they aren't the skilled counter punchers that Rigo is.

Donaire will probably be more active which means Rigondeaux is going to have to take some chances to win rounds and that will open him up to that nasty left.

Smart bet is Donaire by KO.

Marroquin is a pretty good prospect with real power. he had a good amateur career he beat Gary Russell jr. and a number of other notable fighters & had a record of 165-15.

They rushed Marroquin putting him in the ring with Rigondeaux. He wasn't quite ready for that, he's only 22. Solid prospect nonetheless, we'll see how his career progresses.