Comments Thread For: Rigondeaux vs. Agbeko To Top HBO Card on 12/7 in AC

[Adamjr91]

Shhhh1t, Agbeko is getting fed to the wolves. I rate Agbeko, I really thought he was unlucky not to pick up a win against Mares in their first fight.

However I expect Rigondeaux to put on a clinic and make Agbeko look extremely average. Rigo by UD, Agbeko has a chin made of steel.

[King_]

Good to see Rigo back but I'm a bit disappointed with the opponent. I would of preferred to see Rigo vs. Kiko Martinez. Not sure if it was possible, though

[MrClutch85]

Rigondeaux is back

[New England]

i didn't see agbeko's last fight. it was in ghana, so i'm sure i'm not alone in not seeing it.


rigotards will pump this opponent up, but it's not a great opponent at all. agbeko is all but retired. rigondeaux gets a full pass, obviously, as the guy is the most avoided fighter in boxing not named gennady golovkin.

[King_]

i didn't see agbeko's last fight. it was in ghana, so i'm sure i'm not alone in not seeing it.


rigotards will pump this opponent up, but it's not a great opponent at all. agbeko is all but retired. rigondeaux gets a full pass, obviously, as the guy is the most avoided fighter in boxing not named gennady golovkin.

I think most people are just glad that he's back. Kiko or Darchinyan are better opponents for him, IMO.

[niceyboo3]

if rigondeaux was with al haymon , he would've made millions and be a TV fix . He is much better boxer than mayweather jr.

Trust me if he was better than Floyd, he would be with Haymon. But it so far apart it's ridiculous.

[simms601]

if rigondeaux was with al haymon , he would've made millions and be a TV fix . He is much better boxer than mayweather jr.

Shame on you for making such claims. You sir are not longer viable in the sense of boxing knowledge.

[-PBP-]

Trust me if he was better than Floyd, he would be with Haymon. But it so far apart it's ridiculous.

Nah I can't trust you on that one. He wouldn't leave his current manager, Gary Hyde, under any circumstance:

Rigo chose not to defect for Hyde in 2007. The timing wasn't right. But Hyde did succeed in signing Rigo to a five-year professional management contract. The fighter's decision to stay was then made worse by his failed defection in Rio de Janeiro later that year. Help that time had come from Oner's Arena Box Promotions. The EFE news service reported that as much as $500,000 was spent on Lara and Rigondeaux's attempted extraction. Competition for the Cubans was stiff.

By the time Rigondeaux decided to defect again, in 2009, Hyde had already established the necessary connections to successfully extricate world junior champion Ismaikel "Mike" Perez from Cuba. And it was those same connections that helped Hyde finally get Rigo to the United States.

"Money makes the world go 'round, and those people make money from customers," Hyde said of the human smugglers. "So all I had to do was become that customer, which I am, and get the people who are giving the service to trust me."

Hyde started his quest to find Perez a way out of Cuba in Cancun, Mexico -- a known hot spot and midway point for human trafficking between the United States and Cuba. After a week of walking through various Cuban restaurants in the city looking for a lead, he eventually found a man who said he was third from the top in a trafficking cartel that could help him.

The price: $50,000.

Too high, Hyde thought. He decided to work around the middle man.

"I realized that I needed to speak to the Cubans in between this process," Hyde said. "I sent a fisherman into Cuba, and he was in an apartment with Mike Perez."

Worried and sensing that it might lose a customer, the Cancun cartel called with a lower price.

"The people in Cancun got in touch with me and said, 'Hey, look, what's going on? What's going on? We can do it.'

"So I asked how much."

The new price: $16,000.

"Once I knew it was $16,000, I told them, 'You make sure you look after my boy. You make sure my man gets through to Cancun safe and sound, and I don't want any harm to him.'"

Hyde was told to call back in five days. Instead, Hyde insisted he would be in Cancun within 24 hours of Perez landing ashore.

"I got a call telling me he is in international waters, he's out of Cuba. That's how Mike Perez got out."

Rigondeaux was next.

"I called my connection in Mexico because I had heard a rumor that Rigondeaux was ready to come," said Hyde, who had given "Mike" as his first name to avoid being tracked.

"Listen to me, Miguel," Hyde's contact told him, "there is no one, even if it's Jesus Christ, who will get their hands on Rigondeaux. He is your fighter."

After a few weeks' waiting period, Hyde found out Rigo had reached Miami safe and sound -- but on someone else's dime. By that time, he had already signed with another manager in Miami. But it isn't uncommon for Cuban fighters who have defected, whether uncertain about the process or merely seeking out their own windfalls, to sign with multiple managers.

Hyde, who had the contract with Rigo, knew that the fighter was his diamond. And after litigation, he got to keep him.

[big_james10]

I think most people are just glad that he's back. Kiko or Darchinyan are better opponents for him, IMO.

It will never happen. Arum already has Donaire/Darchinyan III and IV penciled in and a fight between Donaire/Kiko sandwiched between them. This may be Rigondeaux's last appearance on television unless he leaves Arum and signs with another promoter. If you don't believe me, ask yourself when was the last time you heard from Zahir Raheem. He is the guy who beat Erik Morales before Morales fought Pacquaio for the second time (a fight Arum already had scheduled before the Raheem/Morales fight).

[CubanGuyNYC]

Damn. I was hoping this would be in Miami so I could go.

Atlantic City in December? Decisions, decisions.

Me, too, bro. After that article in "El Nuevo Herald," I never considered Rigo would fight anywhere else. Miami would've been the place to watch "El Chacal" fight. AC is fine for Rigo, but I feel completely let down.