Donaire was definitely outboxed and deserved to lose the decision. However, I don't think he lost much else during the course of the fight, if it can even be called a fight. Rigondeax's style was so painfullly boring to watch that boos could be heard from the crowd as early as the 3rd round and continued until even after the final bell.
What fans observed was Donaire attempting to cut off the ring and putting himself at a significant disadvantage just to try and make any kind of fight of the match at all.
Rigondeax, on the other hand, approached the fight as if he was the champion who's belt needed to be taken. And, even at that, he still chose an extremely cowardice approach, often seen jogging around the ring to avoid contact.
Rigondeax's strategy worked. He forced a better fighter to consistently give up his advantage to try and make the fight a fight, and he was just effective enough with his potshotting to to warrant taking 8 of the 12 scheduled rounds.
In the process, however, Rigondeax may have hurt his stock more than he helped it. Boxing is only partly about winning. In fact, the sport is mostly about entertaining the fans. And, at the end of the day, the fans were bored to tears with this fight, and they know who to blame: Guillermo Rigondeaux.
Nonito Donaire, on the other hand, maintains his stock and appeal, and has almost certainly learned a valuable lesson from his fight with Rigondeax. That lesson is simply this: don't fight boring "fighters" like Rigondeax. It's a no win situation. Yeah, you may be able to run him down and get him out of there. But you could possibly fail to run him down, and look very bad trying to.
Donaire is to be commended for fighting the best, and trying to give the fans what they want. In the future, however, he will be well advised to only take on fighters that will come to fight.
This is, afterall, the entertainment business.
Oh, and don't hold your breath for a rematch, either. The best way Donaire can even the score with Rigondeax is to let him drown in his own pitiful stock.
That's my 2 cents.
What fans observed was Donaire attempting to cut off the ring and putting himself at a significant disadvantage just to try and make any kind of fight of the match at all.
Rigondeax, on the other hand, approached the fight as if he was the champion who's belt needed to be taken. And, even at that, he still chose an extremely cowardice approach, often seen jogging around the ring to avoid contact.
Rigondeax's strategy worked. He forced a better fighter to consistently give up his advantage to try and make the fight a fight, and he was just effective enough with his potshotting to to warrant taking 8 of the 12 scheduled rounds.
In the process, however, Rigondeax may have hurt his stock more than he helped it. Boxing is only partly about winning. In fact, the sport is mostly about entertaining the fans. And, at the end of the day, the fans were bored to tears with this fight, and they know who to blame: Guillermo Rigondeaux.
Nonito Donaire, on the other hand, maintains his stock and appeal, and has almost certainly learned a valuable lesson from his fight with Rigondeax. That lesson is simply this: don't fight boring "fighters" like Rigondeax. It's a no win situation. Yeah, you may be able to run him down and get him out of there. But you could possibly fail to run him down, and look very bad trying to.
Donaire is to be commended for fighting the best, and trying to give the fans what they want. In the future, however, he will be well advised to only take on fighters that will come to fight.
This is, afterall, the entertainment business.
Oh, and don't hold your breath for a rematch, either. The best way Donaire can even the score with Rigondeax is to let him drown in his own pitiful stock.
That's my 2 cents.
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