Comments Thread For: Arum: I Want Rigondeaux To Be More Fan-Friendly

[megadeth]

How is a guy with 8 ko's in 12 fights boring???

[The Big Dunn]

^^^This right here!!!! The campaign is on against certain type of boxers.

seems HBO is clearly doing this, which is fine. the problem is that Top Rank, ESPN, and their other corporate partners seem to be helping them do this.

[-PBP-]

Don't kid yourself. Arum was not bitter about Donaire losing in and of itself, he was bitter about the money he would lose by Rigo not having the capacity to generate the sales he wanted. He knew like anyone in the Boxing business knows that anything can happen in Boxing and that Rigo could win that fight. He saw dollars lost. The reason WHY Arum deflected the blame to Klimov in Crawford's case is because that was a singular case where Crawford was booed. Rigo has been booed at least twice now. And the common denominator between Dawson, Alexander, Ward, and Hopkins is that all are Americans who speak English. For a fighter to not speak English he has to have a gimmick or be hugely exciting or popular, Rigo is neither. Not Rigo's fault, it is just reality.

Donaire-Navaraez

With an unwilling, outclassed opponent in Argentina's Omar Narvaez, Donaire had to settle for a lopsided, boo-inducing decision victory

Donaire-Vasquez Jr.

In the tenth, some in the crowd booed as the men watched more than they threw. Vaz landed a lead right, and made Nonito miss a bunch, but still didn’t win the round. Donaire stayed alert and pretty busy in 11. In the 12th, Donaire favored a hurt left hand and didn't press for a KO

Donaire-Mathebula

Donaire jabs to the body. 1-2 lands for Mathebula. Right hand lands for Donaire. Donaire lands a left. Mathebula jabs. Short right lands for Mathebula. Donaire lands a left upstairs. A few boos from the crowd.

Donaire-Nishioka

But fans at the sold-out Home Depot Center booed much of the champion's win because of what happened right before it.

So again, why is Rigo being blamed for the boos during the Donaire fight when the other guy has a history of this? Other fighters get passes that Rigo hasn't gotten from Arum and HBO because they are bitter.

[NELSONMELENDEZ2]

Wtf

Arum trying to change Rigo. Beware Arum Rigo has 2 more fights under contract then when hes gone with his titles youll be crying. Rigo style is like mayweathers and hes doing well.

[richardt]

I think the fans were booing the lack of action, not rigo persay. the lack of action stemmed from rigo's style and nonito's unwillingness to continue to throw punches because he didn't want to keep getting countered.

HBO invested in Nonito and Rigo ruined that investment to a degree. HBO had to be smart enough to see this coming when the fight was made.

But I maintain Top Rank's job is to promote Rigo, not get rigo to fight in a different style. The truth is winningboring may not get you big ppv fights but getting KO'd repeatedly will not get you those fights either.

You seem to be saying that HBO doesn't want rigo as the a side of a main event. Fine. I'm cool with that. My problem is Bob suggesting rigo being more exciting will get him big fights where he is the a side. How will that happen if he loses to an inferior fighter?

You forget something. It wasn't just the booing in the Donaire fight, it happened in the Rico Ramos fight so that sets up a pattern. Rigo winning didn't ruin anything because Bob STILL had both the winning and losing fighter but he saw the booing equate to dollars when HBO turned their backs. Anyone and Arum especially knows anything can happen and that Rigo could beat Donaire and he thought that didn't matter because he had both guys in his stable. What he didn't expect was HBO shying away and that is when Arum decided to address Rigo about becoming more fan-friendly. It is a clear as day to see. And there is a HUGE gully between winning boring and getting KO'd repeatedly and in that gully lies the ability to fight in the pocket and make a fighter miss and make them pay. I have SEEN Rigo do this so no one is asking a Leopard to become an Elephant. No one is asking him to change, just do more of what he does like when he finally opened up on Ramos and when he throws combinations. Some of you guys act like Rigo is being asked to just tie his hands behind his back and let the other guy hit him at will. Seriously??????

[The Big Dunn]

Don't kid yourself. Arum was not bitter about Donaire losing in and of itself, he was bitter about the money he would lose by Rigo not having the capacity to generate the sales he wanted. He knew like anyone in the Boxing business knows that anything can happen in Boxing and that Rigo could win that fight. He saw dollars lost. The reason WHY Arum deflected the blame to Klimov in Crawford's case is because that was a singular case where Crawford was booed. Rigo has been booed at least twice now. And the common denominator between Dawson, Alexander, Ward, and Hopkins is that all are Americans who speak English. For a fighter to not speak English he has to have a gimmick or be hugely exciting or popular, Rigo is neither. Not Rigo's fault, it is just reality.

then why agree to promote him???? respectfully, you can't have it both ways.

you knew he couldn't speak english. you knew he fought the same way he did in the olympics. you also knew he was likely much older than he represented to you so change would be difficult.

so if you know he can beat nonito and become the defacto "a side" in his weight class, why not have a series of fighters ready to be rigo's "b side" or create another TV opportunity for him.

Thats the job.

[Fetta]

Ypu dont ask one if the most skilled boxers in the world to change his style

[richardt]

[B]So again, why is Rigo being blamed for the boos during the Donaire fight when the other guy has a history of this? Other fighters get passes that Rigo hasn't gotten from Arum and HBO because they are bitter.

You don't get it????? Donaire wasn't booed because he wasn't jabbing and running against his opponents as Rigo was perceived as doing. It is all about audience perception.

[HeroBando]

Arum is right but as a promoter he should say the opposite, this kind of public statements will hurt his fighter's marketability, what the hell is he thinking? He must be getting senile.

How many people read Arum's statements? Couple of hundred, 95% hard core fans that have a pretty good idea about both Rigo and Arum. His *****ing is to put some pressure on Rigo to please the network anyway he can, whether more exciting fights or smaller purses, his pick

[The Big Dunn]

You forget something. It wasn't just the booing in the Donaire fight, it happened in the Rico Ramos fight so that sets up a pattern. Rigo winning didn't ruin anything because Bob STILL had both the winning and losing fighter but he saw the booing equate to dollars when HBO turned their backs. Anyone and Arum especially knows anything can happen and that Rigo could beat Donaire and he thought that didn't matter because he had both guys in his stable. What he didn't expect was HBO shying away and that is when Arum decided to address Rigo about becoming more fan-friendly. It is a clear as day to see. And there is a HUGE gully between winning boring and getting KO'd repeatedly and in that gully lies the ability to fight in the pocket and make a fighter miss and make them pay. I have SEEN Rigo do this so no one is asking a Leopard to become an Elephant. No one is asking him to change, just do more of what he does like when he finally opened up on Ramos and when he throws combinations. Some of you guys act like Rigo is being asked to just tie his hands behind his back and let the other guy hit him at will. Seriously??????

I get the difficulties but they were known variables that needed to be planned for in advance.
You know that fights aren't one at a time but are part of plans for 2-5 fights over the course of 1-2 years.

Bob appears to be towing HBO's company line rather than promoting Rigo as he should. Rigo doesn't need to change his style-rigo's opponents need to learn more skills so they can deal with what he brings to the table.