Is there anyone who thought Donaire won, or the fight was razor close?

[p4pking]

I agree it was a boring fight. I love the "sweet science" as much as anyone, but there really wasn't enough offense to make for a compelling viewing experience. It was just one of those bad stylistic matchups, where two counter-punchers with big power stand around waiting for the other to move, like a "you punch first", "no, YOU punch first" kinda deal we've seen tons of times over the years.

I'm willing to give Rigo a pass on that one though, because when you're in your 12th pro fight and you're taking on someone of the caliber, and someone as beloved and talked about as Nonito Donaire, it may be best to get the win by any means, no matter how unappealing, and then worry about looking good the next time out. Also, Nonito is a very skilled counter puncher with brutal KO power, so stylistically it doesn't make sense to take too many risks.

I think Nonito deserves his fair share of the blame as well. He fought just as cautious as Rigo for the most part and didn't attack as much as he should have.

Good post, and I agree with almost everything, but I can't give Rigondeaux a pass. I now believe all the hype about him, so he should have done more. The first ten rounds should have been a lot more like the last two, in my opinion.

It's a lot easier said than done, Beanflicker is dead on here. I thought the first minute of the fight was extremely telling in that both guys earned huge respect for their power off the bat. You could tell Donaire realized early on that getting KO'ed was a possibility, and from there on he rarely took any more risks than Rigo did. It's not fair to say he was the one pressing the action when all he did was plod forward for most of the fight. Rigondeaux was easily outboxing him, the onus isn't on him to wade in like a fool when Donaire was only looking for one shot much of the time. Clearly Rigo had every reason to be wary of that shot as it turned out, and I think the championship rounds really redeemed how negative he was in a few of the middle ones. He obviously has a chin and great recovery powers, I thought it was extremely impressive the way he took back control of the fight so soon after the KD, and the 12th round was just a mugging. Pretty damn good fight in the end imo.