So, is Golovkin a coward or is Lomachenko a weak bully?

Lomachenko did not initially call out Rigondeaux for a fight.

According to Lomachenko, it was Rigondeaux who was first calling for the fight, by posting it on instagram.
* That is in fact true, you could check Rigo's instagram @rigoelchacal305 and see that the post is still there (posted about 7 weeks ago).

Lomachenko also said that Rigo's promoter even contacted Top Rank in order to make the fight happen.

Then the teams started negotiating the fight. They arranged the money and Lomachenko agreed to the rehydration clause.

However, when it seemed that the fight is almost made, team Rigo suddenly backed out.

[yt]watch?v=lNI9azfYalw[/yt]

Now, while I'm pretty certain that what Lomachenko said in the video is true, I also wouldn't fully blame Rigondeaux and call him a straight ducker.

He did challenge Loma first, he did come up with the rehydration clause and he did turn down the fight once Lomachenko agreed to that clause.

However, he is a 122lbs fighter and he has never fought at 126. Challenging a fighter in a higher weight class and then turning the fight down is a stupid move, but it's not like there is no way we can justify it in this case. What probably happened was Rigo or his manager realizing that this is a very difficult fight against an elite boxer who is also bigger than Rigo (and much better than Donaire I'd add), and considering that Rigondeaux already had a good promotion deal (RN/Haymon) waiting for him, they came to the conclusion that they don't want to take that risk.

Now, I'm not defending a so called "business decision", but I'm willing to give Rigo a pass because he is a lot smaller (he's already small enough at 122lbs) and after all he has no obligation to fight anyone above 122lbs.

He shouldn't have called Lomachenko out at to begin with, so that's on Rigondeaux. Now he has no rights to run his mouth about Lomachenko considering what happened, but he has every right to do his stuff at 122 where he is the kingpin.

As for Lomachenko, you can't bash him in this situation at all. He has done what he was supposed to do. Accepted the challenge and agreed to terms. The last thing that Loma should have done is saying "Rigo is small, I don't want to fight him", because we all know that certain groupies would be more than happy to talk about him ducking Rigo if that was the case.

After all, Lomachenko went on to fight undefeated Gary Russell (rival stable fighter) on Haymon's own event (rival promotion card) in his 3rd professional fight. He basically risked everything in that fight and he came out victorious. That's among the very last guys in the sport that you can bash.

 

No, you're just selective about what you see.

Does Golovkin not get called a coward here? Probably about 50% of my posts are of me defending him from people who call him a coward, a ducker and so on.

Does Lomachenko not get called for ducking Walters? It's the same thing.

 

Beggers can't be chooser, you know. Rigo hasn't fought since 2014, claims that no one will fight him. A high profile guy want to to fight him and he backs off. What's he waiting for? White hair to grow before his next fight? Is he waiting for a big money fight...there isn't any for him other than Lomachenko.

GGG on the other hand has a big money fight coming up and another big money fight with the winner of Canelo/Cotto planned. He won't move to 168 until he has taken care of business.

Ward wants what he wants, but he's not going to get it until he build his name back up again. People claimed that Ward cleaned up his division and that's BS. Froch cleaned up the division while he was taking a nap. And now new contenders are cropping up and he hasn't fought a good fighter in years.

 

Neither. They are all good fighters doing difficult things for their careers. Not wanting to fight the best fighters in your own division is cowardice, stepping up to fight someone at a heavier weight class is *****y and deserves respect; but there's nothing that demands fighters move up to difficult fights. There is no shame, but neither is there any special glory in staying in your weight class. Offering to fight a popular fighter from a lower weight class rather than moving up yourself doesn't really reflect very well on a fighter in my eyes, but it's nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of great fighters have done both and if the two fighters agree then so be it.

 

What a stupid argument. Loma is offering a fight to Rigo who has no credible opponents to fight in his weight class. And it was Rigo who called out Loma and then ran across the street and hid behind the bushes.

Ward offered Golovkin a fight at 168 but Golovkin still has lots of great opponents to fight at 160, like Jacobs, Lee, Quillin and others.

 

Lomachenko's manager called out Rigondeaux 3 days before the Instagram post so it was his team that was, in fact, calling out a smaller fighter. This was much ado about nothing anyway because it should be clear to everyone that Rigondeaux is never fighting for Gary Hyde again and he was the one that seized on Lomachenko's manager's comments to either get one last fight or to try to make himself look useful so he can extend the contract.

 

GGG primary aim is to unify 160 division

Isn't that what we want from all our top fighters ! To try and be the unified undisputed top guy in their weight class ?