2017 continues to deliver great fights. Debate over a controversial scorecard obscures the fact Canelo Alvarez vs Gennady Golovkin was a superb match and a great fight. This year has already seen plenty of fine fights made, Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko, Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev, even Golovkin against Danny Jacobs earlier in 2017. Vasyl Lomachenko taking on Guillermo Rigondeaux continues that trend.
Lomachenko will box Rigondeaux at super-featherweight at Madison Square Garden in New York on December 9. Rigondeaux steps up two weight classes to challenge the Ukrainian for his WBO world title. It should be a high class match. Both have won two Olympic gold medals a piece and are regarded as two of the best pure boxers in the sport. Both have been successful as professionals, Rigondeaux has been a long-time titlist at super-bantamweight and in quick time Lomachenko became a two weight world champion.
The participants have been airing their views on social media. Promoter Bob Arum declared, “Matching Vasyl Lomachenko and Guillermo Rigondeaux, each winners of two gold medals is a milestone in my career.”
“I am only glad Vasyl Lomachenko is not the kind of boxer to run from a challenge. There is a long list of ‘champions’ known to have done that,” Rigondeaux tweeted.
He added, “I don’t want to hear anything about weight advantage. I asked for this fight and I got it! It is on.”
Lomachenko said, “We are giving the fans what they want. Let’s do this.”
