Guillermo Rigondeaux’s manager, Alex Bornote has lambasted the WBA after they followed through with their decision to strip the Cuban of his world title, following his unsuccessful attempt at Vasyl Lomachenko’s WBO world super featherweight title.
‘Rigo’ surrendered on his stool citing an injury to his hand following being on the recieving end of six one-sided rounds against Lomachenko at Madison Square Garden, last month.
In an exclusive interview with ESPN, Bornote suggested the WBA grew incensed with a lack of activity on Rigondeaux’s part which in turn leads to the governing body not maximising the amount of sanctioning fees.
“I think it’s very unfair,” Bornote told ESPN. “We fought at 130 pounds.”
“What does that have to do with anything at 122 pounds, where Rigo was champion? They just had it in for us.”
“His inactivity has totally screwed him. Rigo has been inactive and when you’re inactive the WBA is not getting any sanctioning fees, so they’ve had it in for us.”
“They put us in a bad position before the fight by giving us that kind of choice.”
“We had to pay the WBA a [$15,000] fee to get a special permit to fight Lomachenko for his WBO title. The WBA said we’d lose the [junior featherweight] belt if we lost the fight.”
“So, in essence, we were fighting for both belts that night.”
“But at that point we had already signed for the fight, so what are we gonna do? Was he not going to fight?”
“I didn’t think it would be such a horrible performance,” Bornote said to ESPN. “It’s another nail in his coffin in his career. It’s the Rigo story.
Never have I ever seen such a thing. He has no luck at all.
Furthermore, Bornote added that his charge is down in the dumps right now, but on the other hand, he is likely to campaign at 126 lbs upon embarking on his return to the ring.
“He doesn’t feel all that great right now. He didn’t think the weight difference would be such a big deal, but Lomachenko is a very special talent, a great boxer. And Rigo also hurt his hand, so he was at a big disadvantage.”
“It was hard enough for Rigo to get a fight when he had a world title, so now imagine what it’s going to be like without a title. But he’s definitely going back to his weight class at 122 pounds or maybe 126 pounds,” Bornote added.
“He’s really a natural 118-pounder, but in this market, with the opponents out there, we might have to also consider fighting at 126 pounds.”
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