Hypothetical - Naseem Hamed vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux

[Happy Boy]

Hamed

Strengths
- unorthodox technique
- incredible power
- speed and reflexes
- decent chin
- good conditioning

Weaknesses
- ill-discipline
- defense can be leaky and gets caught off balance
- can resort to pot shotting when frustrated
- often no gameplan in fights


Rigondeaux

Strengths
- defensively almost perfect
- speed and accuracy with great array of shots
- ring craft and intelligence
- KO power
- strategy

Weaknesses
- can mentally switch off when not being pressed
- unknown stamina/chin, hasn't been tested

For my money, this would be Hamed's worst nightmare. Even given he was on the slide against Barrera, he couldn't work anything out once his power wasn't cutting it, and Rigondeaux is much faster and slicker than Barrera ever was. I could have foreseen Hamed maybe getting some success early and maybe hurting GR, but over the course of the night I could also see a lot of rounds with Hamed throwing a lot of power shots and missing, and getting stung often, hard, and in eye-cathing manner with sharp counters as Rigondeaux picked him to pieces.

What say you, Sherbox??

 

[Mad King]

This would be an interesting match up. Hamed is hard for anyone because of his unorthodox style but seeing how a well disciplined fighter beat hamed very easy I would lead towards Rigo.

 

[HHJ]

id lean towards rigo as well but i would love to see it

 

[Athenry04]

Wet dream fight, would lean just slightly towards Rigo, but Hamed can put anyone's lights out.

 

[Wanderlei4Life]

Rigo smashes him in a clear UD. At least 116-112.

 

[Spirit Breaker]

Rigo smashes him in a clear UD. At least 116-112.

This. If Barrera boxed his ears off imagine what Rigondeaux would do.

 

[Sunfish]

8-4 isn't a smashing.

What's wrong with everyone recently?

 

[Spirit Breaker]

8-4 isn't a smashing.

What's wrong with everyone recently?

To be fair sometimes a 8 round win doesn't exactly tell the tale of how much of an ass whooping the fight was. For example I had Alvarez winning about 4 rounds, but the rounds he won were mainly rounds Floyd took off.

 

[Sunfish]

You had Alvarez winning 4? I had him at 2 tops.

 

[Confucamus]

Rigo would be too crisp and accurate for Hamed to get rolling IMO. 117-111 for Rigo

 

[HHJ]

with naseem for himself and his opponent its a fight which can go anywhere if a guy zigged instead of zags,but naseem never got koed that way so it might favor him in some wild exchanges

 

[Spirit Breaker]

You had Alvarez winning 4? I had him at 2 tops.

Something like that, but I wasn't formally scoring the fight just making mental notes. But I think my point about an 8 round win is still valid, don't you?

 

[Steve08]

I really like both of these guys a lot so it'd be great to see, but Rigondeaux just has such exceptional defense that I think he'd be able to outbox Naseem for a UD. But if Naseem landed a clean shot on him then Rigo would be in deep waters for sure.

 

[Sunfish]

Hamed could put people with decent beards to sleep. I wouldn't bet on it. It's a toss up when someone can crack like that, regardless of what you think of his technique and Hamed only lost one to a great.

 

[Spirit Breaker]

with naseem for himself and his opponent its a fight which can go anywhere if a guy zigged instead of zags,but naseem never got koed that way so it might favor him in some wild exchanges

Rigondeaux never really gets wild or out of position though. Hamed's strength was that his punches still had power when he was in odd positions and his rythm was weird so he caught a lot of guys while they were resetting etc.

That's how Barrera beat him. He just boxed and never got greedy trying to catch him. Rigondeaux would do the same.

 

[Mad King]

8-4 isn't a smashing.

What's wrong with everyone recently?

Its a smashing epidemic

 

[INeedARemedy]

This would be a great fight. Gotta go with Rigo

 

[Gontran]

I think Rigo would beat him decisively

 

[Gontran]

You had Alvarez winning 4? I had him at 2 tops.

I don't see how you can give alvarez more than 2 rounds. I just don't see it.
Between 0 and 2 I can understand. Past that, it makes no sense to me.

 

[Spirit Breaker]

I don't see how you can give alvarez more than 2 rounds. I just don't see it.Between 0 and 2 I can understand. Past that, it makes no sense to me.

Well two of the judges no one is bitching about did.