More frustrating to watch: Rigondeaux or Lara?

[Queen_Leia]

Who do you think is the more frustrating fighter to watch, given their athletic gifts and technical abilities but their inability to be more aggressive and let their hands go?

Both guys have have the same 'just do enough to win' mentality, which is really not helping them get more fans or earning the big money shots.

I say Rigondeaux is more frustrating since he looks the more impressive of the 2. The real shame is that when he's on point he's a brilliant to watch but chooses to fight safety first. Lara's style in general is just a major eye sore that just isn't pretty to watch, although I do respect his skills.

Do they really teach this kind of style in Cuban boxing school? They need to take notes from watching Jose Napoles

[TheUntouchable]

Not frustrating, just boring.

Lara is the better fighter with great names on his resume, Rigo doesn't do nothing against bums, takes no risk, only looks for counters and still gets hit and dropped.

[_original_]

I'm always impressed with Rigo, even when he's "boring." The guy is a master and far superior to Lara IMO. You never see Rigo just put his guard up and freeze up while taking unnecessary left hooks to the body or back peddling with no rhyme or reason. Lara has faced better competition, though.

[techliam]

Rigo dominates though. Its frustrating that he could open up more and be exciting, but if hes not comfortable doing that then fine. I can't deny how masterful he is

Lara on the other hand seems to drag himself into close encounters with fighters he really shouldn't be scraping decisions over. He should have easily been more aggressive over Canelo, he was making Canelo look like an idiot. No excuses for being dropped by Angulo. The fight against Vanes also, no excuses, he seemed in control when he wasn't messing around with really unnecessary, and at times stupid, leg movements.

I'm no entirely sure if its Lara who does it deliberately, or if its a sign that Lara's inside game is an extremely weak area. In all of those fights, he bottled up unless he was at range again.

[Chuckguy]

Lara has no pop. He entertained me last night or maybe it was vanes who really wanted the fight. I just don't see how ******s can possibly think he can beat GGG. Or how it would even be a good win for GGG. Lara was on que eer st against a zombie in Angulo he was getting hit with good shots last night against vanes. GGG would kill him. You idiots think he is too fast and slick then when GGG kills him you all will say how he just beat up a 154.

[sicko]

Watching their opponents shut down and become reluctant to let their hands go is more frustrating! Not sure how you expect to beat them just standing right in front of them and just trying to land 1 punch at a time. They will counter you to death. Cuban fighters fight like Mongoose, just very patient and quick and use counter strikes. They could probably do that for 20 Rounds if they had to!



Hard for me to tell the Cubans to change their style when they Dominate Amateur and Olympic Competition with that style and is having success in the Pros with it. Until somebody figure out how to defeat and break through that style, why should they change?

They're simply taking advantage of everybody else POOR TRAINING! They know that 98% of boxing can't cut the ring off so they use that to their advantage and rightfully so!

[HeroBando]

Watching their opponents shut down and become reluctant to let their hands go is more frustrating! Not sure how you expect to beat them just standing right in front of them and just trying to land 1 punch at a time. They will counter you to death. Cuban fighters fight like Mongoose, just very patient and quick and use counter strikes. They could probably do that for 20 Rounds if they had to!

Hard for me to tell the Cubans to change their style when they Dominate Amateur and Olympic Competition with that style and is having success in the Pros with it. Until somebody figure out how to defeat and break through that style, why should they change?

Cause

1. You make it very easy for the judges to take it away from you
2. Lesser purses and opportunities

[Shrap]

You've got to wonder what kind of effect these guys are having on future Cuban boxers wanting to turn pro. Are they making it tougher for others to break through? Promoters don't want anything to do with this kind of boxing and fans in general despise it - they even straight up boo them when the fight is over.

Dull boxing really doesn't have much of a place in the pros today - they've got UFC to compete with now. People want exciting fights with lots of action.

[Dr Rumack]

I'm always impressed with Rigo, even when he's "boring." The guy is a master and far superior to Lara IMO. You never see Rigo just put his guard up and freeze up while taking unnecessary left hooks to the body or back peddling with no rhyme or reason. Lara has faced better competition, though.

Agree with this. Rigo is a vastly superior boxer. Rigo also fights above his natural weight, whereas Lara looks like he might struggle if he didn't have the reach advantage he has at 154.

[kiaba360]

I've always had a hard time deciphering why I prefer one over the other when they seem similar on the surface. I think Lara is easier to criticize because we have a greater sample size of times where he's had disappointing performances, unlike Rigo who barely even fights. I find Lara more frustrating because he's usually facing decent opposition and stays relatively active, so I'm inclined to watch his bouts. However, he always reminds me why I don't like watching him in the first place. It's easier to avoid "Rigo vs. insert irrelevant opponent" so that's why I don't talk about him.

Also, there's moments where Rigo seems to actually want to hurt the opponent and not just score, something you rarely see from Lara. Lara barely shows any fire or venom when he fights. He's just a hard guy to root for.