But but it isn't the amateurs...

He is considered the greatest amateur ever by some. I certainly rank Vasyl above him and as a far better all round fighter.
Rigondeaux is a superb ring general but he is an outside fighter with limited punch output. Lomachenko is every bit the defensive wizard that Rigo is but what makes him different (and superior in my eyes) is that he does it in mid range and the inside, while attacking. I've never seen anyone do that in boxing ever before, his reflexes are phenomenal. He does it throwing lots of punches and with great variety. Lomachenko isn't as stylish as Rigo but that's because he's not a pure counter puncher, he looks to press the fight and do some damage. With Rigo it's 'if it happens it happens', with Loma it's 'I'm going to make it happen'. Against good fighters some might not be so impressed with Loma but that's because against some fighters you're not going to make it happen easily, no matter who you are. If a good fighter wants to survive and is focused on defence then it won't happen. When Rigo comes across a good opponent like that he looks better because he still has his slickness and style while posturing on the outside. With someone like Lomachenko it's just going to look like they're ineffective and lack power. Some people were unimpressed with Loma against Selimov, without understanding just how good someone like Selimov is and difficult to get on top of over only 5 rounds. I rate Selimov over most pro fighters.

I've been a fan of Rigo for many years so what he did to Donaire wasn't surprising at all, I've always said I'd pick Rigo over Donaire everyday if his chin holds up.

 

I love how people point to people like Harrison to try and prove their point. What about all the ATG's who had great amateur careers? Nothing in life is certain but if you're a good amateur (not a good amateur with a cheap style i.e. Khan) then you're a good boxer and you'll be a good boxer as a pro.
Some olympic medallists gain their medals through a combination of politics and a good draw. You have to take their amateur career as a whole, guys like Loma and Rigo won lots of tournaments in lots of places.
Harrison also turned pro at 31 and was a mental weakling, it's not his boxing skills that let him down but his mentality.
If a successful amateur doesn't make it as a pro there is usually an obvious reason and it's rarely because 'they can't box', it's another variable that anyone can have a problem with.
If you take a good amateur and a guy who has never boxed before having their first pro fight together then who are you going to pick? It's ridiculously obvious so people need to stop acting like the amateurs count for nothing.
To win multiple international competitions you need to face every style from around the world and beat the best, if an amateur does that then 9 out of 10 times he is going to be a very good pro. The competition in a title fight in the 'pro' game often isn't even as competitive/high level as a national title in the Ukraine/Cuba in the amateur game.

 

Just watched the HBO version of the fight, respect to the commentators for getting it right for a change and respect to Roy Jones for emphasising just how good you have to be to win multiple amateur championships.

The fight was even more dominant for Rigo than I initially thought, even though I had the same scorecard as Lederman did while watching the International version where they unbelievably had Donaire up by a point at the end. One of the great performances in boxing by Rigo.

 

Thank you, I humbly accept that title and would like it to be on the record. I've been a massive fan since Beijing (followed him since 07), someone like Vysotsky might have been a fan before me though.

 

And the list of fighters who failed as pros who didn't have good amateur careers is many, many times larger.
Some people really are terrible with logic.

 

And what about the many more that did?

 

Of course they are, the majority of 'professional' fighters are bums just trying to make some coin. The top amateurs have funding from their government, top facilities, physiologists, nutritionists, psychologists.. and they get paid to fight full time. They fight the best, they have no choice. So who is really 'amateur' and 'professional'? Rigondeaux has been a professional since he started boxing. The pro game is the hype/money game, the amateur game is the sport where the best fight the best. You can't buy a title or buy a shot against a champ in the amateurs, you need to earn it.
These guys aren't 'special talents' that appeared out of nowhere, these are guys who perfected the art of BOXING over their long amateur careers, fighting every different style and facing the best.
Look at how easy the 11 fight pro handled the p4p star and fighter of the year. Who was the amateur in the fight? Rigo dominated in every way possible.