Rigondeaux: Lomachenko Wouldn't Fight Me When at 126-Pounds

[Ruthless-RKO]

A day after Vasyl Lomachenko contended that Guillermo Rigondeaux opted to fight him just for the payday, Rigondeaux delivered an accusation of his own.

The WBA super bantamweight champion claimed during a conference call Wednesday that Lomachenko agreed to fight him only because they’re now two weight classes apart. According to the unbeaten Cuban southpaw, Lomachenko refused to fight him when the WBO super featherweight champion competed at 126 pounds.

“We tried and we tried and we tried, and he wouldn’t step in the ring with me,” Rigondeaux said through a translator. “Now he wants to step in the ring with me at 130 because he believes he has an advantage over me.”

Ukraine’s Lomachenko (9-1, 7 KOs), who’ll battle Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs, 1 NC) on December 9 in New York, later dismissed Rigondeaux’s charge as “nonsense.”

“We all can’t believe in that nonsense, whatever he’s saying,” Lomachenko said through a translator. “We have a video of one of the reporters asking him, ‘Would you like to fight Vasyl Lomachenko?,’ when I was at 126. He asked the reporter, ‘Hold on a second. At what weight am I fighting?’ And the reporter said, ‘122.’ [And he said], ‘Well, what kind of question do we have? I’m fighting at 122. So why are you asking this silly question?’ And this video is on YouTube. Everybody can find it, so it’s not the truth.”

The 37-year-old Rigondeaux has never weighed in at more than 123 pounds for a professional fight.

[Kalan]

Rigondeaux is a damned liar... He refused to fight Lomachenko at 126 -- like many other logical opponents refused to fight Loma at 126... That's why Lomachenko moved to 130, to possibly get more fights.. What's Rigo going to do now??? He needs money fights so he's finally taking risks.

[gilgamesh]

Doesn't really matter. Lomachenko is the draw here. If he wanted the fight at 130, then 130 it is.

This is definitely the most significant fight of Rigo's career I'd say so it's worth rolling the dice. If he even makes it competitive or close then he's done himself proud.

I think he'll give Loma some issues, but ultimately I expect Loma to outhustle him for the most part. Looking forward to the speculation coming to an end on December 9.

[Best Coast]

In the latest negotiations Arum never pushed for the two to meet at the happy medium of 126 and it's obvious he favors Lomachenko who is the cash cow. Rigo would be competitive at 126 but has very little chance of making a successful jump all the way to 130 against someone of Loma's caliber.

[jamamb]

have to admit im rather suprised that lomas promoter favours loma over a boxer who left him a few years ago.

[squiggy]

Rigondeaux is a damned liar... He refused to fight Lomachenko at 126...

Is there evidence for that?

[SaadOffTheDeck]

In the latest negotiations Arum never pushed for the two to meet at the happy medium of 126 and it's obvious he favors Lomachenko who is the cash cow. Rigo would be competitive at 126 but has very little chance of making a successful jump all the way to 130 against someone of Loma's caliber.

Nonsense, it's the same fight at either weight. The belt is at 130. The size difference isn't much past a couple pounds. Rigondeaux has really long arms, that will surprise Loma and keep him more at Bay.

[Tanzio]

This is definitely the most significant fight of Rigo's career I'd say so it's worth rolling the dice. If he even makes it competitive or close then he's done himself proud.

+1

[punchingpundit]

Looking forward to this fight!

[asdfjkl]

Rigondeaux is a damned liar... He refused to fight Lomachenko at 126 -- like many other logical opponents refused to fight Loma at 126... That's why Lomachenko moved to 130, to possibly get more fights.. What's Rigo going to do now??? He needs money fights so he's finally taking risks.

Well, then they can do that fight as well after he lost this one right?

[Best Coast]

In the latest negotiations Arum never pushed for the two to meet at the happy medium of 126 and it's obvious he favors Lomachenko who is the cash cow. Rigo would be competitive at 126 but has very little chance of making a successful jump all the way to 130 against someone of Loma's caliber.

Nonsense, it's the same fight at either weight. The belt is at 130. The size difference isn't much past a couple pounds. Rigondeaux has really long arms, that will surprise Loma and keep him more at Bay.

Sorry amigo. RIgo is too small to be fighting a top-notch natural 130-pounder like Loma. If Rigo wins or loses controversially, I'll be the first to give you props.

When you predicted Lubin would beat Charlo, I similarly said I would be the first to congratulate you if you were right (altho I didnt crack on you after Lubin got blasted in the first). I'm actually HOPING you are right because I am a Rigondeaux fan and will be hoping he wins, but I've got to be realistic & admit his chances are slim at 130. But if RIgo wins I will not only be congratulating you but celebrating his win!!

[Blodhemn]

Nonsense, it's the same fight at either weight. The belt is at 130. The size difference isn't much past a couple pounds. Rigondeaux has really long arms, that will surprise Loma and keep him more at Bay.

That's how I've seen it from the start. Rigo has the reach of someone 5'8", while Loma is more like 5'5". Pretty ridiculous. The weight is more like one weight class difference, while still an advantage, not a huge one nor one that wouldn't be there if the fight did happen at 126. Excuses are already rolling from Camp Rigo.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

In the latest negotiations Arum never pushed for the two to meet at the happy medium of 126 and it's obvious he favors Lomachenko who is the cash cow. Rigo would be competitive at 126 but has very little chance of making a successful jump all the way to 130 against someone of Loma's caliber.

Nonsense, it's the same fight at either weight. The belt is at 130. The size difference isn't much past a couple pounds. Rigondeaux has really long arms, that will surprise Loma and keep him more at Bay.

Sorry amigo. RIgo is too small to be fighting a top-notch natural 130-pounder like Loma. If Rigo wins or loses controversially, I'll be the first to give you props.

When you predicted Lubin would beat Charlo, I similarly said I would be the first to congratulate you if you were right (altho I didnt crack on you after Lubin got blasted in the first). I'm actually HOPING you are right because I am a Rigondeaux fan and will be hoping he wins, but I've got to be realistic & admit his chances are slim at 130. But if RIgo wins I will not only be congratulating you but celebrating his win!!

I was dead wrong about lubin. These two being of similar size is factual.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Nonsense, it's the same fight at either weight. The belt is at 130. The size difference isn't much past a couple pounds. Rigondeaux has really long arms, that will surprise Loma and keep him more at Bay.

That's how I've seen it from the start. Rigo has the reach of someone 5'8", while Loma is more like 5'5". Pretty ridiculous. The weight is more like one weight class difference, while still an advantage, not a huge one nor one that wouldn't be there if the fight did happen at 126. Excuses are already rolling from Camp Rigo.

[Badhusker]

It depends on who you believe for the fight not happening at 126. Someone is blatantly lying. I looked back to 2015 on this board, and was surprised to see the majority picking Rigo to win if the fight at 126 would have went through. I figured Arum would stop it some how.

Regardless, the main thing that has changed other than 4 pounds, is Rigo is almost 3 years older now. I think that may be more of a factor than weight. I hope not though. I would laugh my ass off if Rigo dominated Loma. Wishful thinking. Its going to be a good fight. Hopefully no controversy.

[Kalan]

Nonsense, it's the same fight at either weight. The belt is at 130. The size difference isn't much past a couple pounds. Rigondeaux has really long arms, that will surprise Loma and keep him more at Bay.

That's how I've seen it from the start. Rigo has the reach of someone 5'8", while Loma is more like 5'5". Pretty ridiculous. The weight is more like one weight class difference, while still an advantage, not a huge one nor one that wouldn't be there if the fight did happen at 126. Excuses are already rolling from Camp Rigo.

The reach doesn't matter here because Lomachenko is so skillful.. Nicholas Walters has a longer reach than Mayweather. He ripped Donaire to shreds where Rigondeaux settled for getting knocked down and winning a decision over Donaire.. Lomachenko scoped Walters out in 3 rounds and then started punishing him with sharp combinations... Walters knew he was going out so he quit.

[Best Coast]

If Rigondeaux moving up 8 pounds to face Lomachenko at 130 is not too big of a jump in weight then hopefully the same folks saying that wont be complaining that Loma moving up 10 pounds to fight Mikey Garcia at 140 in the future would be too big of a jump. Garcia and Lomachenko are closer in size than Loma & RIgo are.

[Blodhemn]

If Rigondeaux moving up 8 pounds to face Lomachenko at 130 is not too big of a jump in weight then hopefully the same folks saying that wont be complaining that Loma moving up 10 pounds to fight Mikey Garcia at 140 in the future would be too big of a jump. Garcia and Lomachenko are closer in size than Loma & RIgo are.

Uh, no.

Loma and Mikey would be a great fight even so. 140 would be Loma's absolute ceiling, but what's next? Loma is roughly the same size as Crawford?

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Lomachenko is quite small for 130.

[caldo2025]

I can't stand both of these fighters so i'm just glad one of them is going to lose most likely. But I do have to root for someone and I'm going for Rigo because Loma has turned into quite the princess these days. All of a sudden, he thinks he's the best in the world...he's belittling inferior fighters inside the ring instead of taking tougher fights. Oh, we are all so impressed with the tennis ball hat drill...please. Never seen so much fanfare for a 9-1 fighter in my life. Go Rigo.

[Best Coast]

If Rigondeaux moving up 8 pounds to face Lomachenko at 130 is not too big of a jump in weight then hopefully the same folks saying that wont be complaining that Loma moving up 10 pounds to fight Mikey Garcia at 140 in the future would be too big of a jump. Garcia and Lomachenko are closer in size than Loma & RIgo are.

Uh, no.

Loma and Mikey would be a great fight even so. 140 would be Loma's absolute ceiling, but what's next? Loma is roughly the same size as Crawford?

Agreed. Both Garcia & Lomachenko are 5'6" but as the picture shows, Mikey is broader through the shoulders, which is probably where he gets his 2.5" reach advantage since traditional reach numbers measure wingspan (as opposed to HBO's untraditional measure of shoulder to knuckle on one arm).

Like you mention, 140 would be Loma's ceiling, whereas Mikey could probably go as high as 147 if a compelling fight was available. That leaves a door open for a potential Crawford-Garcia matchup eventually but TC would have a 2" advantage in both height & reach over Mikey.

[Badhusker]

Loma should stay away from Mikey Garcia, and Mikey Garcia should stay away from Crawford. Not that I wouldn't like to see those fights, but both Loma and Garcia would get their asses handed to them.