Forget Mayweather v McGregor and Alvarez v Golovkin, the biggest fight of the year is taking place at Madison Square Gardens on Saturday night. The favourite is Vasyl Lomachenko, an amateur legend, a double Olympic gold medallist and a current world champion. He is ranked in the top five pound for pound boxers in the world by The Ring, BoxRec and ESPN, and has been described as the greatest fighter since Mohamed Ali. But his opponent is Guillermo Rigondeaux, an amateur legend, a double Olympic gold medallist and a current world champion, who also features highly in pound-for-pound charts. That’s right: it is the first time in history that two fighters with two Olympic gold medals each have met in the ring and it promises to be an exhilarating occasion.
Roy Jones Jr is certainly excited as the former four division world champion hailed it as the greatest fight ever made. “You can\’t find two fighters better on paper to put against each other,” he said. Rigondeaux is stepping up two weight classes to make the fight, so he is at a natural size disadvantage and is the underdog. The odds have been drifting on him with some bookmakers and he has gone out to 4/1 with Paddy Power and 9/2 on the Betfair sportsbook. Bet Victor and Stan James are also offering 4/1.
But Rigondeaux looks about the most dangerous underdog in the history of underdogs.
He has absolutely destroyed everyone that he has faced and is 17-0 in his pro career, having put legends like Nonito Donaire to the sword with consummate ease. Nobody has ever come close to beating the 37-year-old and this is the biggest fight of his career, his shot at the big time, so he will be focused and extremely dangerous. He is not a flashy fighter, not too dynamic, but he is a defensive master, an expert in counter-punching, and he will be a real handful for Lomachenko.
This fight is also fascinating because it pits two boxers with contrasting styles up against one another. Rigondeaux does not throw too many punches but packs real power and chooses his shots carefully. He is the immovable object to Lomachenko’s unstoppable force. The Ukrainian almost never stops throwing punches and has totally overwhelmed several star fighters since turning pro. He won 336 of 337 amateur matches and has only lost once as a professional. That was in his second fight, when he tried to make history by being the first boxer to ever win a world title in fight number two of his career, but lost in controversial fashion to Orlando Salido. It was a split decision and many felt Lomachenko should have won as he landed more punches and seemed to get the better of the fight. Salido was also heavily criticised for failing to make the weight, some say intentionally, and he came in far heavier, so Lomachenko’s reputation was not tarnished, and he has since obliterated everyone he has fought.
So how will it pan out? The green listed bookmakers have Lomachenko as the heavy favourite – 10Bet has 1/4, the best price available – but pundits and former boxers are split. Rigondeaux is up against it because he is naturally smaller than Lomachenko and has had to step up in weight, but this tough, gritty fighter has battered all sorts of golden boys before and has a great chance of doing so again on Saturday. At odds of 4/1 or 9/2 he looks a really attractive prospect as he is about the only fighter around that can live with Lomachenko thanks to his mental strength, defensive skill and all-round cunning. However, if you do fancy Lomachenko to take the victory, you should probably look at the method of victory to gain more value. He is evens with Unibet to knock Rigondeaux out, and 2/1 with William Hill and various others to win by a decision. Nobody has ever knocked Rigondeaux out as a pro, so decision might be the way to go.
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