Donaire's loss to Rigandeax did nothing to hurt his career, in my opinion. Rigandeax was literally running the whole fight, and made no attempt whatsoever to try and make the fight exciting. And, while it's safe to say that he did outbox Donaire, he did nothing to prove that he's the superior fighter. All he proved was that he was far less compelled to make the fight interesting than Donaire, who wanted to make the fight interesting and exciting for the fans.
The analysts calling the fight claimed this was a fight for the boxing purists only, but I can't imagine anyone taking any entertainment value whatsoever from watching Rigandeax run for his life while pot shotting here and there.
I'm actually a big fan of fighters who effectively move around the ring, but only when that is also accompanied by effective combination punching. Rigandeax only threw combinations in rare spurts, and almost never sat down on any of them.
Sergio Martinez dismantling of Julio Cesar Chavez was a far better example of effective movement and combination punching.
The most important point here is this, Donaire is still a big name and a big draw, and Rigandeax's stock probably took a significant hit tonight.
I mean, seriously, who doesn't want to see Donaire's next fight? And who does want to see Rigandeax's?
I rest my case.
Oh, and one other thing, please, for the love of god and all that's holy, no rematch! Boring never needs a sequel.
