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Rigondeaux vs. Donaire: A
Second Look
By Chris Coreschi
As I sat down to watch the Donaire vs. Rigondeaux fight from
the comfort of my couch I knew two things; 1) I couldn’t
have been so wrong and 2) Only Michael J. Fox, who tweeted
after the fight: "...was at HBO fight last nite - gotta
rewatch cus I saw the decision the other way", and I had
Donaire winning.
Rounds 1-3: There was no change in how I saw these rounds,
Rigondeaux winning two of the first three. I thought Rigo
fought well, showing good defense while being aggressive at
the same time. Donaire was a little more timid than I
expected but he was in with a Cuban legend.
Rounds 4-6: Slight change in my scoring, live I had Donaire
winning all three rounds while on tape I gave Rigo round 4,
The refusal to engage wouldn’t allow me to award 5 or 6 to
Rigo no matter how stellar his defense.
Even after 6 from my couch, live had Donaire up by 1.
Rounds 7-10: I saw these3 rounds the same from my couch as I
did live, Donaire pressuring and trying to engage and
Rigondeaux having none of it. I much prefer the fighter
moving forward and trying to make the fight than the guy
trying to avoid it. Live I gave all three rounds to Donaire,
from my couch I gave round nine to Rigo, but barely.
Donaire 5-4 from my couch, 7-2 Donaire live scoring.
Rounds 10-12: The championship rounds, who wants it more?
Donaire roared out in round 10 and scored the only knockdown
of the fight, this was a 10-8 round no matter many times I
watched it. For Rigo to make it a 10-9 he would have had to
have knocked Donaire all over the ring after getting off the
canvas and that he did not do. I gave rounds 11 and 12 to
Rigondeaux from my couch while live I only gave him 12. He
was more aggressive in round 11 than he had been since round
three.
Round twelve stands alone to me as the telling round, I did
not see this as Rigondeaux putting the exclamation point on
the fight I saw it as a man who had refused to engage
realizing he needed a knockout to win and finally letting it
all hang out. He obviously damaged Donaire’s eye with a big
left early, forcing Donaire to keep his guard really high to
protect the injury. Roy Jones Jr. made an interesting point
during the telecast (The only time I appreciated having the
sound on) that Donaire was probably having vision trouble
and covering the right eye with his glove was to try and
correct his vision so he could focus on his opponent and
finish the fight.
Ultimately my scoring changed from 9-3 Donaire live to 6-6
with the difference being the 10-8 round I awarded Donaire.
So while it wasn’t as wide as it appeared live I still come
away with Donaire winning the fight 114-113 and the
realization that Michael J. Fox and I are still the only
ones who had Donaire winning.
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