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Home » Rigondeaux takes Donaire back a peg with decisive victory

Rigondeaux takes Donaire back a peg with decisive victory

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  • 2 min read

The 32 year-old double Olympic champion executed an almost perfect gameplan to nullify the speedy Filipino for the majority of their twelve rounds at the Radio City Music Hall, with a tenth round knockdown the only scare on a faultless performance.

Rigondeaux started brightly in the opening round and could have easily made a case to be given some of the close following rounds, which I gave to Donaire, and could conceivably have won the fight by a wider margin.

‘Rigo’ fought on the outside for most of the contest, only moving in to exchange when it suited him as Donaire grew increasingly frustrated until the tenth round when a sweet left hand floored the WBA champion.

The Miami-native recovered well though to close out the final two rounds and keep Donaire at bay to score a 116-111, 115-112, 114-113 victory on the judges scorecards – adding the WBO belt to his haul in the process after just twelve bouts.

Donaire, 30, may now be tempted to step up to featherweight and claim another world title, whilst Rigondeaux has cemented his place as the best 122lber on the planet and may now look to secure a third title at the weight.

On the undercard, Felix Verdejo, Toka Khan-Clary and Seanie Monaghan began the televised portion on the card with a bang as all three scored devastating first round knockout victories to maintain their perfect records in style.