After the fight: Did Guillermo Rigondeaux display artistry or ineptitude?

Guillermo Rigondeaux has accomplished a lot as a boxer, but was his performance against Casimero artistry or an embarrassment? 

The Aug. 14 Showtime main event between bantamweights John Riel Casimero and Guillermo Rigondeaux was memorable to a degree, but for all the wrong reasons. It set records for poor work rates, but people differ on how they view Rigondeaux’s performance.

Round 1 started out promising. Casimero was aggressive and hurt Rigondeaux with several punches, but the excitement fell off a cliff for the remaining 11 rounds. Fans at Dignity Health Sports Park booed for most of the fight, and most purveyors at home echoed those sentiments on social media.

However, a minority of voices felt Rigondeaux displayed exquisite defense, while many felt he ran for most of the fight.

Who’s right?

There are some shades of gray there, but Rigondeaux’s performance as a whole should be criticized and not glorified. There’s a fine line between fighting defensively and barely fighting.

Boxings fans expect to be entertained by the combatants in the ring. A clash of styles sometimes deprives those spectators of an enjoyable show, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the fighters weren’t boxing well.

Some people tried to compare Rigondeaux’s exhibition against Casimero to Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s propensity to play the role of counter puncher. That’s quite a stretch.

To be a counter puncher, you need to actually punch, which Rigondeaux did very little of against Casimero. In total, Rigondeaux threw 221 punches and landed 44, according to CompuBox statistics. That’s very anemic, especially for a bantamweight.

Casimero’s numbers weren’t much better, but at least he tried to press the action, but Rigondeaux was reluctant to fight. There’s no other way you can characterize the majority of his action in the ring.

John Riel Casimero vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux will go down as the worst fight of 2021

At times, Rigondeaux’s footwork and elusiveness were impressive, especially for a 40-year-old, but he needed to land something of substance to make his defensive skills worthwhile. The 28 power punches he’s credited with didn’t do the trick.

Having three or four moments where Rigondeaux made Casimero miss and he actually connected with one or two counterpunches didn’t equal a boxing masterclass. There needed to be much more output from Rigondeaux and a willingness to engage when he made Casimero miss.

Too often, Rigondeaux would use movement to make Casimero’s punches badly miss their mark, but he did nothing to take advantage of his parrying ability. He stayed on his back foot and tried to put more space between him and Casimero without any attack. That’s a full-out retreat.

Rigondeaux tasted Casimero’s power in the first round, and he wanted no part of it. He tried to seduce the judges into giving him rounds by landing the occasional light shot to tally up points like his two gold medal runs in the Olympics.

Not even the Olympics score based on punches landed anymore. If that’s what would have impressed the judges on Aug. 14, Rigondeaux was still the loser since Casimero landed a whopping three more punches than Rigondeaux.

Don’t take my assessment of Rigodeaux as praise for Casimero. He looked befuddled, slow, and unskilled for much of the fight, but at least he tried to fight. Rigondeaux landed three punches or less in 10 of 12 rounds. That’s awful and was a product of his conscious choices. He didn’t want to do any more than that for fear of getting caught with a knockout punch.

Casimero’s numbers weren’t much better, but it takes two to tango, and he never had a dance partner.

After the fight, Rigondeaux was unapologetic about his performance.

“Nobody wants to fight with me because I frustrate them in the ring,” said Rigondeaux after the fight. “I landed the punches that I needed to in order to win the fight tonight. This is how I win. I have these God-given skills, and this is the way I display them. I’m a unique fighter. It’s my style, and it’s the only one I know.”

Hopefully, Rigondeaux has a different self-assessment after he watches the fight. He didn’t land the punches he needed to win because he barely landed any punches. His display was embarrassing for an elite professional fighter.

There was a time when Rigondeaux could frustrate and hurt his opponent, but he can’t do that to championship-level boxers anymore.

Rigondeaux is using his style as a crutch. Nobody wants to fight him now because no one wants to be in a stinker of a fight. It’s unlikely that any promoters want him on their card after his showing against Casimero.

Rigondeaux will still find fights, but he will have difficulty isolating an audience that wants to see them.