Better fighter: Shakur Stevenson or Guillermo Rigondeaux (prime)

Both are very mediocre in my opinion.

 

Not a fan of either - I've never liked the negative, overly cautious boxing style.

But Guillermo Rigondeaux was clearly the more talented fighter, his amateur record was incredible.

 

Very good question. Shakur looks more impressive on the eye because his fast combos and higher output but Rigo was an absolute master of controlling distance and moving around the ring. Remember though Rigondeaux was a lot older than Shakur is now when he fought Donaire. Shakur will keep getting better

 

Rigondeaux. At least he didn't literally cry like a little girl when he lost.

 

Rigondeaux

 

Shakur as a pro no doubt. Rigo has had so many scares, almost got stopped by Amagasa. Granted rigo was way smaller than his opponents, Shakur has just been so utterly dominant. I don’t know if he’s lost a round as a pro.

 

Maybe this is somewhat due to recency bias on my part, but I think Stevenson is better. Other than the Donaire fight, I just feel like Rigo never really performed up to his potential, likely due to him being so risk adverse and the long layoffs he often had between fights. I have to admit that I’ve pretty much done a 180 on Shakur Stevenson over the past couple years. I used to think he was overrated and would be exposed by the top guys at 126 and 130, but now I believe he’s a legitimate top 10 pound for pound fighter (at least in terms of skill, although he may not quite belong there yet based purely on resume).

 

Rigoblin might be boxing's biggest enigma.

He clearly had elite skills to go along with speed, defense, and crippling power. He schooled Nonito and broke his eye, but outside of that fight, has looked either mediocre (getting dropped by bums) or bored people to death in winning efforts. Then last time out, he was outboxed and dropped by an absolute nobody.

 

I’d favor prime Rigo over todays Shakur based on all that experience, but I could see 27yo Stevenson being superior to any version of Rigo.

He’s definitely more fun to watch.

 

Rigo.

While I certainly rate Stevenson, Rigo was a brilliant boxer and a next-level spoiler defensively with game changing power.

That last attribute separates the two, in my opinion.

Nevertheless I expect Stevenson to have the more memorable career.