This Saturday two of the most accomplished Olympians in amateur boxing history are pitted against one another. Vasyl Lomachenko & Guillermo Rigondeaux represent the complete form of technical boxing skills, Roy Jones Jr. has called it “the best fight I ever seen made on paper”.
The type of fights that generally catch the imagination of the general public are the ones with the bad blood narrative or fights that involve the more recognized names who are considered superstars of the sport, which is why this fight is flying under the radar.
What these two men bring is a mastery of the sport, there’s a legitimate argument from a technical point of view you’re looking at the top two boxers in any era with the least amount of flaws.
Vasyl LomachenkoÂ
Amateur Record: 396-1
Amateur Honours: 2x Olympic Games gold medalist, 2x Amateur World Championships gold medalist.
Professional Record: 9-1 (7 wins by KO)
Professional Titles: WBO Featherweight World Champion, WBO Super Featherweight World Champion.
Only 10 professional bouts already a two-weight world champion, it took a few fights for Lomachenko to fully transition from the amateur style which is the main culprit of the only loss on his record. That moment may have been the best thing for his career because following that loss to Orlando Salido the Ukranian has looked impeccable.
His dancing style of fluid footwork combined with volume punching is something to behold, the criticism aimed at him has been his lack of testing fights. That could be purely due to the fact that he’s miles ahead of his competition or maybe he’s just not had the chance to fight someone against whom he would receive a more thorough examination.
Rigondeaux although smaller in stature has the ability to give him the problems which if Lomachenko solves would earn him the acclaim he’s searching for.
At 29 years old Lomachenko has the brighter future of the two with his prime still ahead of him and plenty of years to do something significant with it.
Guillermo RigondeauxÂ
Amateur Record: 391-12
Amateur Honours: 2x Olympic Games gold medalist, 2x Amateur World Championships gold medalist.
Professional Record: 17-0 (11 by ko), 1 No Contest.
Professional Titles: WBO, WBA, & The Ring Super Bantamweight World Champion.
Every so often you get an athlete that divides opinion and Guillermo Rigondeaux is a classic example of that type of athlete. Fans and journalists either appreciate his genius or decide his style isn’t entertaining enough and largely ignore his fights.
Although opinion may be divided on Rigondeaux’s entertainment value, his boxing ability is something which isn’t up for dispute. To make a sport as dangerous as boxing look as easy as Rigondeaux does is almost a tougher task than the one Rigondeaux faces this weekend.
During his professional career, he’s made world champions look like they’ve never boxed a round in their life. In a sport which is somewhat associated with physical toughness and blood and guts battles, imagine a participant who is barely seen with a bruise or a bloody nose.
Rigondeaux is best defined as a poet who decided to use his fists to write sonnets.
Boxing is a wonderful but sometimes peculiar sport, you can get two athletes who do almost the same thing inside the ring and yet the opinion of them can be completely different.
Two fighters may both have styles that are based on taking few risks and use the path of least resistance in order to claim a victory. One man might be respectful to his opponents and behave in a responsible manner but he’s completely ignored, the other might launch verbal tirades towards opponents (including borderline racist comments), be convicted as a criminal for using violence outside of the ring, behave obnoxiously despite being in a fortunate position and he’s the PPV star of a generation.
If you’re someone who appreciates the fundamentals of the sweet science which are the true foundations of boxing and not just pantomime drama, then do yourself a favour and watch this fight.
Where to watch Lomachenko vs RigondeauxÂ
ESPN (USA)
Boxnation (UK)
Fox Sports (Australia)
