By: Hans Themistode
Manny Pacquiao sensed deja vu as he sat back in his palatial estate to watch Guillermo Rigondeaux take on his fellow Filipino countrymen, and WBO bantamweight titlist, John Riel Casimero. The two faced off this past Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park, in Carson California.
Before entering the ring, both men gave off the illusion that their contest would be action-packed. While Casimero did his best to hold up his end of the bargain, Rigondeaux was constantly on the move.
In the end, what resulted was a lackluster affair. With a grand total of 91 punches landed, Rigondeaux and Casimero set the record for the lowest amount of landed punches in CompuBox history.
As a fairly jam-packed crowd was dissatisfied with what they were watching, Pacquiao simply shook his head as he took a trip down memory lane.
“I’m glad that he retained his belt but the thing is, his opponent didn’t want to fight him,” said Pacquiao. “It was like Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather.”
After forcing the world to wait countless years, Pacquiao and Mayweather faced off in what was considered, “the fight of the century.” Although neither man was at the top of their games, they were still considered pound-for-pound stalwarts.
The anticipation was thick and the attention on their showdown was high. But ultimately, in the mind of many, they produced a dud of an event. In total, Mayweather landed 148 of the 435 total punches he threw that night. Pacquiao, on the other hand, was less efficient, nailing Mayweather a total of 81 times while missing a combined 348 of his shots.
Unlike his countrymen, Pacquiao failed to pick up the win. But while he was thrilled that Casimero retained his super bantamweight title, in the end, Pacquiao wasn’t thrilled with the lack of action.