There will be much at stake a week from today, when pound-for-pound stars and former amateur greats Vasyl Lomachenko and Guillermo Rigondeax meet one another at the historic Madison Square Garden in New York: this a most fitting venue, seeing as how the two master boxers will make history by becoming the first ever fighters to have both won two Olympic gold medals and then fought each other at pro level.
Plenty of people, including the two fighters themselves, say the December 9 winner will haver to be paced at the very top of the pound-for-pound charts we all pay so much attention to and seem to debate so much. It is a good, solid argument to be sure. While plenty of fans will argue that even a stunningly impressive stoppage win scored by either reigning and defending WBO 130 pound champ Lomachenko or his challenger, former 122 pound ruler Rigondeaux, will not be enough to overtake the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Terence Crawford and maybe one or two other guys, it’s hard to argue with those who say, yes, the December 9 winner must be positioned at the very top.
With so much skill between them, such fine boxing brilliance, the winner between the Ukrainian southpaw and the Cuban southpaw will be able to holler out loud how he is the very best. If we see a clear, dominant winner, with either man able to show his superiority over the other and win without any doubt left over the result, the victor will have picked up one massive win; one that could be argued as a bigger, better and more important one than anything the likes of GGG, Crawford and anyone else have on their respective resumes.
Not only will the December 9 winner be looked at by millions as the best P-4-P boxer on the planet, but the victor may well receive more votes than any other fighter when it comes to who is deserving of the 2017 Fighter of The Year award. Lomachenko especially, will have had some year should he close out 2017 with a dominant win over Rigondeaux, a fighter who has, let’s face it, been almost shamelessly ducked and dodged.
Lomachenko has seen off, in almost effortless-looking fashion, good fighters in Jason Sosa and Miguel Marriaga and if he can defeat the unbeaten Rigondeaux he will be a hugely firm favourite to win 2017’s FOTY award. Rigondeaux has has a far less impressive year, with just one bout so far: a No Contest with Moises Flores, but again, he has been avoided like the plague. All the same, if he can topple Lomachenko a week today, Rigondeaux will be in with a great shot at taking home The Fighter of The Year trophy.
So, so much will be at stake a week today and fight fans the world over cannot wait!
