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.
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