How do you think Rigondeaux would have done as a pro?

[mike_tha_man]

yeah i agree. he is a great fighter amateur or not. its really sad i think for the sport to miss out on all the great match ups and fights that could have happened. different look at our sport i guess. these are cases that i think a promoter should pay a certain amount of money to the Cuban government to get some of these fighters over here. i mean money can buy anything if the price is right. i know there is more than that involved but would be real nice to get all these talented fighters to do what they do best, fight.

[Taeth]

It's funny the Cuban government didn't like it, but when Gamboa left there wasn't that huge of a fuss, compared to when Rigondeaux went missing, they threatened his family, they were very desperate not to loss him.

[killersheep]

It's funny the Cuban government didn't like it, but when Gamboa left there wasn't that huge of a fuss, compared to when Rigondeaux went missing, they threatened his family, they were very desperate not to loss him.

Castro is not what he was 4 years ago.

[Taeth]

Rigondeaux tried to leave after Gamboa.

[killersheep]

Rigondeaux tried to leave after Gamboa.

Interesting, puts a twist on things. Surprised he got such poor treatment compared to Gamboa then. Maybe Castro thinks that Gamboa is too wild and has more of a chance of getting caught and sparked.

[Taeth]

Honestly to have only 3 or 4 loses in 250 fights is amazing as pro even, but as an amateur its something else completely, you ahve to fight in different countries where the scoring is way more biased even than proffesional boxing. Him having that record, means he likely clearly won almost all those fights except a few. In the proffesional game, back in the day it was similar in that you didn't ahve time to prepare for a specific fighter, and these amateur fighters have to deal with the same thing. Rigondeaux to lose so few times in a such a speed game as the amateurs he would truly have to always be on his game. It honestly sucks that he would likely be too old to go pro even if he left Cuba, or at least to reach so modicum of the stardom he could have achieved. Cuba made him a great fighter who probably would have won 4 gold medals, and Cuba also held him back from achieving even more greatness as a pro.

Gamboa actually leap frogged the batamweight division because he knew he couldn't beat Rigondeaux.