By Mike Coppinger
It was a surprise Thursday when Chris Avalos pulled out of his Nov. 22 title fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux. But maybe it shouldn't have been.
After all, the Cuban boxer has had a helluva time getting people into the ring with him. He's called for more unification bouts, but has been unable to secure a dance partner. Rigondeaux's next bout is his first since the expiration of his contract with Top Rank, and Top Rank is the co-promoter of Avalos, thickening the plot. Avalos is also the manadatory for Carl Frampton; Top Rank and Eddie Hearn (who now co-promotes Avalos) are aggressively pursuing that fight.
That leaves Rigo searching for a new opponent for his fall date, an all too familiar situation.
"We are very disappointed to hear that Top Rank contacted the WBO today to advise them that Chris Avalos was not willing to fight Rigondeaux," Rigondeaux's manager Gary Hyde told BoxingScene.com on Thursday. "Avalos has been the only challenger to call out Rigondeaux and obviously now he has proven to be as cowardly as all the other 122lb fighters."
"Avalos and WBC world champion Leo Santa Cruz have been looking for some recognition for mentioning Rigondeaux's name but they are fooling nobody. It's dreadful that even mandatory challengers will not step up to the plate to fight the top guy. Rigondeaux is now without an opponent for the November 22nd date that his promoters Caribe Promotions had won the bid to promote so now Team Rigondeaux have a few snares to set in the hope of securing an opponent."
Hopefully someone will step up to the plate.
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