The unjust hate on Guillermo Rigondeaux and Danny Garcia

While scouring various popular boxing forums I noticed two polarizing figures in active boxing that consistently catch flack whatever move they make, El Chacal and DSG. While their styles are completely different their criticisms are surprisingly similar.

The main criticism of Rigondeaux is he makes boring fights. People infer, with his skill level, he should be able to dominate and stop lesser fighters in a more exciting manner. He always does barely enough to win and looks disinterested after he establishes that he is the better fighter in the ring. I believe there is a remedy to this common perception. Stop being self centered, put yourself in Rigondeaux's shoes. Why on earth would you risk taking further damage when you know you have a fight won? Isn't the saying, 'live to fight another day?' Also, isn't boxing the sweet science? 'To hit and not get hit.' Anyone who's actual been in the squared circle knows how much risk is involved, one mistake could be all it takes. 'Styles make fights.' Rigondeaux is a boxer-puncher who is at his best when counter fighting. It's not his fault his skills freeze the opponent into doing nothing. If they're gonna make it that easy for him, why wouldn't he take it? At the end of the day, this man is fighting against professional caliber boxers. I get that boxing is also called prizefighting and we as fans want excitement but in my estimation it should be exciting enough that Rigondeaux is winning against world class fighters. Theoretically, these guys are risking their lives every time out. Excitement is subjective just like opinions, I'm just trying to add a little perspective. (Think of Floyd, the least you can do is cheer for Rigondeaux to lose, but respect his skill.)

Similarly, critics are under the impression Danny Garcia fights to the level of his opposition and just barely does enough to win. The difference is all of Garcia's fights are interesting because more often than not he's in a fire fight. Danny is a versatile puncher-boxer that can initiate the offense and is willing to trade blow for blow, but can box when he is fighting pressure fighters. It is not by choice Danny is in close fights he barely pulls out, nonetheless, everyone is a pessimist when it comes to him. Critics don't value his ability to change style and adjust midfight, i.e. against Morales the first time around, Khan, Matthysse, Guerrero. While I play devil's advocate and say Danny has a clutch gene, the general majority says he continually has the judges favor. Remember, when something is consistent, it isn't luck. When else has a fighter been in fights universally viewed as high level drama and still been hated for it. No one hates Amir Khan for being KOed almost every time out, it's entertaining. I feel as though Danny would be less critiqued had he lost some of his close decisions and it's outright ridiculous.

The secondary criticism these two both catch is their recent opposition, Now, this seems pretty straight forward but there's more than meets the eye.

Let's tackle Rigondeaux's opposition first. After a surprisingly close fight with Cordoba he steadily built up to fighting a p4p fighter(at the time) in Nonito Donaire. This was supposed to be his big coming out party after blowing out Teon Kennedy with mulitple knockdowns in 5. Save from the lone knockdown he incurred, Rigondeaux embarassed a world class Donaire with his superior boxing skills. Strangely enough, he received blacklash from the boxing community because of his dominance. First from his ex-promoter Bob Arum which shouldn't be surprising, because he represents Donaire and no longer Rigondeaux. Then from boxing scribes such as Dan Rafael of ESPN. Because of like promoters and critics with huge social media platforms the public was brainwashed into thinking Rigondeaux is 'boring.' After that fight, Rigondeaux has been black balled into fighting secondary level fighters and being blamed for his fights lacking in action. I question why he has to take all the chances in a fight when he is a known counter puncher. It's on his opposition to try to dethrone him, not the other way around. I challenge you to watch the Teon Kennedy, Nonito Donaire, Sod Kokietgym, and Hihashi Amagasa fights and form your own opinion. The two bouts Rigondeaux has been in that has been absent of action are against Agebko and Francisco. In those bouts, both Agbeko and Franciso, known to be action fighters, stopped throwing, in fear of getting countered. Styles makes fights and it's up to both fighters to engage, not just one. Logically, why would you chase when you're winning. The losing fighter should try to make up ground to win, shouldn't he?

Look at Danny Garcia's record. How can you criticize who he's fought. Few can argue he didn't clean out the 140 division. Theophane, Arnaoutis, Campbell, Holt, Morales, Khan, Judah, Matthysse, Two fights into his welterweight foray people have already forgotten what he's done. It' not easy transitioning up to a higher weight class. Look at Khan, Donaire, Alexander, Broner to name a few who've lost. Not even that, all his fights, save Salka, have been close. You can not have both sides of the argument. If you think he's fighting weak opposition you have to take solace in the fact all these fights have been close. If you think he's always getting the benefit of the decisions fighting equal and lesser fighters in the lower weight classes how can he jump up to the elites of a new division right away?

Fighters fight who they can. I don't see anyone blaming GGG for his lack of top notch opposition or putting his foot in his mouth about fighting anyone from 54 to 68, especially against Ward. Not many blame Canelo for holding a middleweight title hostage while he fights marginal competition at a made up weight of 155. They are media darlings. People love these fighters because they have 'hype' around them. Why does Andre Ward get a pass and Garcia doesn't. After the Super 6 tourney Ward hasn't fought anyone with a pulse. Their careers are pretty similar by record, weight jump, and level of opponents. I guarantee you LSC vs Rigo wouldn't be boring. Garcia's next fight might be the winner of Porter/ Thurman. I believe we should be harsher critics of promotional companies because they have the power to build a fighter up to the public perception, or blame ourselves for not thinking for ourselves. Crawford has the one big win against Gamboa and he's the next big thing because Gamboa brought the fight to him. Rigo similarly beat Donaire yet he was labeled boring because of politics. When Devon Alexander got his first big shot against Bradley and looked awful in a pitiful fight why was he given numerous chances afterwards? Fighters are only to blame when they act like divas in negotiation. Cotto, I'll call out. Canelo's management is turning him into one. Floyd was one. Amir Khan. Adonis Chickenson. Austin Trout running from J Rock. JMM being a sore loser his whole life and clearly being on the juice. Fighters should stick to fighting and nothing else.

#KHANELO?! rant.

First reaction. Is this shit real? Amir Khan is moving up from 147 to fight Canelo at 155? WTF. This is Canelo's 5th consecutive fight at Caneloweight (155). Such bullshit by Canelo and his handlers @GBP. If you're a middleweight champ fight at fucking middleweight you fucking pussies. Wasn't Canelo supposed to take an interim bout to get ready for GGG? I'll have no respect left for Golden Boy Promotions if they have Canelo stick at this bullshit weight limit to avoid GGG. Canelo walks around at 175-180 in between fights for fuck's sake.

Now that the initial outburst is out of the way let's break the fight down objectively. 

Breakdown of Khan:

Khan made the switch from HOF trainer Freddie Roach to Virgil Hunter for one reason. Fix his defense. Khan was continually getting hurt from lightweight to super lightweight with the reputation of having a glass chin. Having always been physically gifted, his technique was lacking in his fundamentals. Khan had a decorated amateur career because his natural skill set and style. He has top notch speed and accuracy in his punches. He further refined his offensive arsenal and combination punching working with Freddie Roach. His defense, well, it never progressed like his offense. General consensus of Freddie's defensive teachings are to move away at angles after throwing combinations. To dumb it down, fighting in bursts. The fighter jumps into fighting range, fires a combo, then jumps out at a different angle, rinse, repeat. Theoretically, this style was perfect for Khan as he has/had the necessary speed to pull this off ala Pacquiao. Khan's problem is/was purely fundamental. He has quick feet but horrible footwork. He pulls straight back after firing instead of slipping and angling out. (Khan personally blames his lack of chin on his weight cuts. He may have a point as that shit does matter if it was excessive.)

Enter Virgil Hunter. His boxing philosophy is completely different than Freddie's in that he wants his fighters to stay in the pocket to catch and counter the opponent, not jump in and out. Virgil wants his fighters to stay in fighting distance more frequently so that his fighter sees all the punches and doesn't panic in the middle of trading. Essentially he's trying to get rid of the bad habit of Khan pulling his head straight back with his chin exposed. Problem is, this style doesn't fit Khan. Khan looked like he was regressing under Virgil Hunter with his last fight vs Algieri. Khan was more off balance in the pocket in that fight than fights prior and he was still getting hurt with both straight rights and left hooks. This was probably the worst a fighter can look in a win barring disqualification. Algieri has 8KOs in 23 fights mind you. Virgil's philosophy just isn't right for Khan. It's not about Khan staying in the pocket and defending shots. Everyone always times Khan while he is in the middle of throwing a combination. He is too egotistical of a fighter and thinks he's infinitely faster everyone else. Ok, he is faster than everyone else, but you can't just throw a 6 punch combo every time without the opposition throwing at least one hard shot back. In that sense, Freddie's style suited him better because it relied on speed as defense. Ironically, the winning game plan for Khan in his fight would be to box and move....Freddie's method. Khan's foolish confidence is his weakness. 

Khan's advantages in his fight are surprisingly his physical attributes. Although listed at or near the same height as Canelo, Khan has the length advantage. He's got the longer reach. He's naturally faster and he weighs less, so, as usual he has the speed advantage. 

I personally hope he gets knocked the fuck out and retires as he is delusional already anyway. The good thing about having your own blog is you don't have to be politically correct hahaha.

Breakdown of Canelo:

Saul Canelo Alvarez is supposed to be the new breed of proud Mexican fighter. That statement could not ring any truer. He is the new breed. Gone is the Mexican style of trading in the middle of the ring or brawling the opponent into submission. He's a thinking man's fighter, contrary to the Mexican champions of old. He's more of Juan Manuel Marquez than a Chavez Sr., Barrera, Morales, Vargas, or De La Hoya. At his core, Canelo is a counter puncher. He has issues in the ring with movers, those who can box on the back foot, as he has a tougher time generating his own offense than capitalizing on the mistakes of others. Luckily for him Khan is an all out offensive fighter and he makes a lot of mistakes. Canelo has progressed nicely ever since the Mayweather fight, showing improved skills in successive bouts thereafter. That loss was the best thing for him as a person and I sincerely mean that as cliche as it sounds. Him and his fucking retard of a team got matching tattoos of the date of his first professional loss because they were so confident in victory that night. Even Scotty P would 'ragret' that shit. I was scared he was gonna turn into another Khan, but I digress. Canelo showed he can pressure better with Kirkland, He showed he can move with Lara, and he showed off his improved defense and stamina against Cotto. 

Too bad De La Hoya is turning him into a fucking diva. I think De La Hoya is vicariously living through Canelo because he cannot live out his exposed cross dressing fantasies any longer. What the fuck is this 155 bullshit. Please fight at 160. And fuck the WBC for not regulating on whoever is their cash cow atm. 

Overview:

Both fighters have advantages on paper. Khan: speed, reach, height, slight edge in stamina. Canelo: weight, footwork, boxing iq, recent activity. I believe Canelo's advantages outweigh Khan's because Khan sucks ass using his advantages. Khan is faster than everyone he faces. Khan's speed and hubris is actually what gets him caught from counters. Khan hasn't fought in a year. Canelo has fought at 155 five times, Khan is moving up in weight. Canelo has better trainers and Virgil isn't right for Khan. As a matter of fact fuck Virgil Hunter that creepy bastard. He challenged Keith Thurman to a fight legitimately thinking he can win. He's probably the one egging Khan on. Canelo is a smarter fighter. If it seems like I'm being bias against Khan I'm not. I hate both these mother fuckers. I'll be equally as happy that one of these clowns will have lost come fight night. Difference is Canelo's improving skills have slowly earned my respect. That doesn't stop me from suggesting Canelo's team should get another tattoo the next time he loses to keep the tradition alive. 

For the record:

I truly believe 90% of fighters are not scared to fight anyone. Boxers are people that make a living fighting. I don't know why the public perception of ducking falls on the fighters. It's the fucking management team and promoters who are scared to lose. If anyone, blame them for the watered down match ups. One can however, blame the fighter for not telling his management what he ultimately wants. All in all, as much as I hate that this fight was made I cannot wait to watch it and enjoy the results. I'll have my wagers posted closer to fight night.