Lomachenko vs. Rigondeaux: Fight prediction, preview odds, line, tale of the tape, pick
Saturday’s junior lightweight title bout between Vasyl Lomachenko and Guillermo Rigondeaux is so historically distinctive as the first professional boxing game to feature fighters who have each won several Olympic gold medals, that placing it into appropriate context hasn’t been simple.
In many ways, it is a Super Bowl of the lower weight classes, including a rising star in Lomachenko (9-1, 7 KOs), that captured world titles in two weight divisions in just his seventh ace fight, along with the eldest Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs), one of the greatest defensive geniuses in history.
You may just as easily call it a showdown for current pound-for-pound supremacy. Heck, Roy Jones Jr. went as far as saying it is the very best battle on newspaper that pro boxing has ever seen. However, for its ravenous allure to hard-core fans within the niche world of the sports science, it was hard to imagine it would ever connect to a greater audience outside that.
Although Lomachenko is becoming close, neither fighter speaks English full time in interviews and have styles which are heavier on technical wizardry (Rigondeaux has been regularly deemed boring) than bone-crushing knockouts. But something happened along the way.
To begin with, legendary promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank announced a Student agreement with ESPN earlier this year, which included Lomachenko’s August success over Miguel Marriaga, and secured prime property for the fight (9 p.m. ET) instantly after the Heisman Trophy ceremony.
Second, the fight sold from the 5,500-seat Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York two weeks beforehand. The result has been a steady stream of crossover buzz for a fight matching a fighter (Ukraine’s Lomachenko) who may already be the best in the sport after just 10 pro bouts against possibly the only man equipped to disarm him (Cuba’s Rigondeaux).
The occasionally gruff Arum, who turns 86 on Friday and enters the 30th event he’s promoted at“The World’s Most Famous Arena“ during 50-plus years in boxing, had to admit he was pleasantly surprised at how the struggle was received.
„I was gratified by the interest and the way this has caught on, but understand that I’m involved with boxing, I really like boxing, and that I felt constantly that this fight is worthy of the attention it, in actuality, has obtained,“ Arum told CBS Sports with this week’s“In This Corner“ podcast. „Was I confident of that coming in? No. It’s something that is well merited. It is not a fluke that it’s getting the attention that it’s getting due to those participants involved.
„It is historic. These are two of the greatest amateur fighters in boxing history and also the fact that they are going at each other is something truly splendid. I am honored to promote this fight.“
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