Comments Thread For: Video: Donaire Talks Rigondeaux, Injury Recovery, More

[damit305]

i would be shocked if rigondeaux will sell tickets in maimi. shocked. they would have him fighting there already if he were a draw.

cubans have never really supported boxers in the states, at least not in the sense that they make them an economically viable draw.

rigondeaux is almost certainly going to spend his career without any fanfare aside from hardcore boxing fans, who really don't drive ticket sales.

There simply hasn't been enough of them to worth pushing promotions to S.Fla. Casamayor alone was not enough. Don King made a card possible at AA Arena a while back with Solis, Cloud and Mayorga headlining and it did fairly well.
With the recent wave of Cuban talent, promoters should take heed and consider a strategy down here. The focus shouldn't solely be on how 'bad' Cuban fans are rather making South Florida larger boxing scene. Pun intended.

[Bermuda]

I've actually always compared Donaire's fighting style to RJJ's. Mainly because they each had freakish power and athleticism compared to guys they were naturally bigger than -- and, of course, I doubt Donaire [like RJJ] can outbox guys their size or naturally bigger fighters for 12 rounds. Ruiz doesn't count.

except being slightly bigger doesn't mean much....

[Bermuda]

The night of the fight Nonito was @ 142lb, I was like Rigo fighting Danny Garcia or a Lucas. Now all bla bla bla, I like Nonito but he should move to 126lb and try there. Rigo is one of the best in all times, Rigo can take the science of boxing to a different level.

source?????

[CubanGuyNYC]

i would be shocked if rigondeaux will sell tickets in maimi. shocked. they would have him fighting there already if he were a draw.

cubans have never really supported boxers in the states, at least not in the sense that they make them an economically viable draw.

rigondeaux is almost certainly going to spend his career without any fanfare aside from hardcore boxing fans, who really don't drive ticket sales.

This has been discussed quite often around here. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being that Cubans have been denied a shot at pro boxing for over fifty years. Before Casamayor, the only Cubans of note that managed to escape Castro's regime were Jose Napoles and "Sugar" Ramos (an ATG and HOFer). That was in the early sixties. Both men fled to Mexico, and campaigned from there, so even they couldn't drum up real interest among the few Cubans in the United States.

Due to the scarcity of Cuban fighters over the years, many Cuban fans have lost interest in the sport. The fan base will take time to grow. Rome wasn't built in a day.

[CubanGuyNYC]

There simply hasn't been enough of them to worth pushing promotions to S.Fla. Casamayor alone was not enough. Don King made a card possible at AA Arena a while back with Solis, Cloud and Mayorga headlining and it did fairly well.
With the recent wave of Cuban talent, promoters should take heed and consider a strategy down here. The focus shouldn't solely be on how 'bad' Cuban fans are rather making South Florida larger boxing scene. Pun intended.

You're right on point, bro.

Casamayor was a lone warrior, and he simply wasn't great enough to carry the weight of Cuban boxing alone. With the amount of good Cuban fighters nowadays (really only about 50 pros worldwide), there should be no problem drawing a good crowd to South Florida. If they set up a card headlining Rigondeaux or Gamboa, had Lara on an undercard and threw in a couple of younger talents like Santana and Socarras, I would bet my last dollar that they would sell out the house. (I'm aware there are different promoters involved, but you get the point.)

In my opinion, if anyone wants to build up Cuban interest in boxing, they have to start at the top and work their way down. Casual fans have no interest in up-and-comers and unknowns. Newcomers are drawn to the bigger names, champions they're proud to be associated with. Once the interest has been ignited, they'll begin to follow the lesser-known athletes. As I said before, it'll take time.

[hitman smax]

If I was one of Donaire's handlers, I would be advising him to stay away from a rematch with Rigondeaux because there is nothing to gain from it.

Rigondeaux is a boring fighter, and the rematch will be boring, win or lose.

It would be one thing if Rigondeaux had physically man handled Donaire or knocked him out. But that's not what happened. Rigondeaux ran from Donaire while infrequently pot shotting. That was his only chance of winning and he took it.

The only effective counter to this approach is to refuse to chase his ass around the ring, and what's that going to lead to?

An even more boring fight.

There are times when a fighter is better off simply accepting the fact that an opponent is a terrible match-up in terms of the entertainment value. This is one of those times.

Nonito, move on to more exciting fights for the sake of your career and the fans. You have nothing to prove with Rigondeaux.

[Light_Speed]

As far as your poor attempt... Froch probably can't, seeing that Andre Dirrell gave him fits and arguably won their fight.

On top of that, RJJ isn't a heavyweight, Ruiz is. Both Froch and Bute are '68-pounders.

Your logic fails you, yet again. Keep hyping up #1 guys in the division for Arum, you're good at that.

Dirrell is not a southpaw, he can switch hit but he fights orthodox a bit more often than southpaw.

Yeah Roy is not a heavyweight, that's why him outboxing a heavyweight was impressive and that's why your statement "Roy can't outbox a bigger for 12 rounds" was absolutely moronic, and adding the provision "Ruiz doesn't count" makes you a hypocrite because you know your statement is wrong but you still pathetically try to cover your ass. Why the hell wouldn't Ruiz count?

I never hyped Nishioka, he earned his #1 spot because of his achievements. Real boxing fans rank fighters based on who they beat, stans like yourself rank fighters based on perceived ability, so Rigondeaux was probably your P4P #1 as soon as he turned pro.

[damit305]

You're right on point, bro.

Casamayor was a lone warrior, and he simply wasn't great enough to carry the weight of Cuban boxing alone. With the amount of good Cuban fighters nowadays (really only about 50 pros worldwide), there should be no problem drawing a good crowd to South Florida. If they set up a card headlining Rigondeaux or Gamboa, had Lara on an undercard and threw in a couple of younger talents like Santana and Socarras, I would bet my last dollar that they would sell out the house. (I'm aware there are different promoters involved, but you get the point.)

In my opinion, if anyone wants to build up Cuban interest in boxing, they have to start at the top and work their way down. Casual fans have no interest in up-and-comers and unknowns. Newcomers are drawn to the bigger names, champions they're proud to be associated with. Once the interest has been ignited, they'll begin to follow the lesser-known athletes. As I said before, it'll take time.

It's a wide open market if you ask me man. IMO it comes down to promoters not wanting to get out of their comfort zones. Good post.

[deejd]

Dirrell is not a southpaw, he can switch hit but he fights orthodox a bit more often than southpaw.

Yeah Roy is not a heavyweight, that's why him outboxing a heavyweight was impressive and that's why your statement "Roy can't outbox a bigger for 12 rounds" was absolutely moronic, and adding the provision "Ruiz doesn't count" makes you a hypocrite because you know your statement is wrong but you still pathetically try to cover your ass. Why the hell wouldn't Ruiz count?

I never hyped Nishioka, he earned his #1 spot because of his achievements. Real boxing fans rank fighters based on who they beat, stans like yourself rank fighters based on perceived ability, so Rigondeaux was probably your P4P #1 as soon as he turned pro.

No, he fights just as much in southpaw as he does orthodox, even when he trains on the bag and mitts. So yeah, Froch does have trouble with southpaws. If you even watched the fight, the times that Froch was getting hit with hard shots, Dirrell was throwing out of the southpaw stance.

Roy Jones Jr. looked impressive outboxing John Ruiz.... Man, light... I don't know what happened, you posted some great stuff until you started riding Donaire extremely hard going into the Nishi fight, and ever since then -- Is that really you? Do you bet your account to a stan?

How many fights did Jones have at heavy? Now tell me, why couldn't he outbox Glen Johnson for 12? Why couldn't he outbox Tarver in any of their three bouts over 12? How come he couldn't outbox Hopkins in the rematch? Danny Green? Shall I go on....?

And yeah, you were hyping Nishi like he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. It was pathetic and disappointing because up until then, I thought you weren't that bias a poster. And it's okay to be bias for fighters you like so long as you can admit that -- but the mere fact that you went to the lengths of being arum's hype man and echoing the bs excuses for Donaire not wanting to fight Rigo, let me know stanism was at work.

Nishi's the #1 guy, he's the best in the division, he beat Marquez... Rafa Marquez!

[deejd]

bump.......