Is the Rigolution over After Guillermo Rigondeaux's Latest Lackluster Showing?
Despite being universally recognized as one of the most gifted pugilists in the world, almost nobody wants to see 35-year-old Cuban defector Guillermo Rigondeaux fight anymore.
Do not feel sorry for him.
Rigondeaux, whom essayist Brin-Jonathan Butler met in 2007 and described as "perhaps the greatest boxer Cuba has ever produced," doesn't really deserve your pity at this point, at least not for the abysmal state of his prizefighting career.
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The reigning junior featherweight champion of the world has done it to himself.
After being virtually dumped by Top Rank and HBO, it appeared last December that Rigondeaux finally understood what it is to be a professional fighter. He finally got it.
Rigondeaux fought aggressively and brave last year when he traveled to Japan to face Hisashi Amagasa. The unheralded Amagasa towered over the diminutive Cuban. He was lanky, tough and fighting in front of his home crowd.
In the past, Rigondeaux would have boxed Amagasa's ears off. He would have used his southpaw jab and straight left hand just sparingly enough to win, employing his swift feet and uncanny knowledge of angles to bewilder the opponent over 12 actionless rounds.
But the Rigondeaux that showed up in Japan that night was a new man. Sure, he used his patented Cuban style to ultimately stop Amagasa in Round 11, but it was that very same style at light speed. Rigondeaux stayed closer to the action than ever before. He was aggressive and punched as if he finally wanted to entertain people.
And he paid for it. Amagasa floored Rigondeaux twice in Round 7. It appeared the undefeated Rigondeaux wouldn't even make it out of the round.
But then something amazing happened. He did.
Rigondeaux fought through the turmoil in Round 7 and, by Round 9, had floored Amagasa. The Japanese fighter's eye was swollen shut by Round 11, and he appeared to have either a broken cheek or jawbone when the fight was wisely halted.
That's right. Rigondeaux climbed off the canvas twice in Japan to wreck someone.
It was an amazing performance. This was the Rigondeaux fans had hoped to see through the first 14 fights of his career. This is the Rigondeaux a promotional team like Top Rank and a television network like HBO could have turned into a star. This was the Rigondeaux everyone wanted.
So where the heck was that guy Saturday night?
The Rigolution is over, people. Or maybe it never really started. I don't know. The fighter who fought a 10-round snoozer against Drian Francisco over the weekend, someone who had absolutely no business being in the same ring as a world-class specimen like Rigondeaux, is finished as a promotable commodity.
He looked terrible Saturday—just plain awful.
Sure, he won every round of the fight. But he hardly threw any punches. He avoided any and all contact. And when the fans booed the guy, Rigondeaux appeared to try even less to give them something to cheer about.
I mean, even Rigondeaux appeared bored with the fight. How were the rest of us supposed to feel?
That's par for the course for Rigondeaux's 2015 campaign, maybe the last significant year of his career. His team has done virtually nothing over the last 11 months to help him. Instead of capitalizing on his excellent performance in Japan, Rigondeaux languished on the sidelines all this year until Saturday night.
Maybe he should have just stayed there. Here is Rigondeaux’s 2015 campaign in a nutshell.
He parted ways with longtime manager Gary Hyde.
"I am officially a free agent," he told Boxing Scene in September.
He signed with Jay Z's Roc Nation, a fairly new boxing promotional company that has also signed Andre Ward and Miguel Cotto.
He was added to the Cotto-Canelo Alvarez card.
"This is a great platform to take my career to the next level and to showcase my talents on the big stage," Rigondeaux told ESPN.com's Dan Rafael.
And he was right. Despite all the past missteps, despite putting himself on the shelf for all of 2015, and despite only deciding to entertain professional fight fans once in his life in a bout no one on this side of the world was even able to see live, Rigondeaux found himself on the big stage in one of the biggest promotional events of the year.
This was his chance to show the world who he is. This was his opportunity to remind boxing fans smitten with other small fighters like Roman Gonzalez and Vasyl Lomachenko that Rigondeaux was as good or better than them or any other fighter in the world.
This was Rigondeaux's opportunity to shine.
He didn't.
The fight was abysmal. His effort was poor. He looked old, tired and genuinely disinterested in his career as a professional boxer.
With all the other options out there, all the boxers hungry to impress us, it should come as no surprise to Rigondeaux that no one else is interested in his career now, either.
Congratulations, Guillermo. The Rigolution is dead.
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