Boxing’s Worst of 2021: Rigondeaux-Casimero
Boxing’s worst of 2021 in-ring action was really a one-fight race for most of the year until that one night in August from the Dignity Health Sports Complex in Carson, California. Guillermo Rigondeaux was looking to become world champion once again and would have to go thru John Riel Casimero to do it.
Rigondeaux’s plan, unbeknownst to those looking for action, was to do anything but that. Casimero’s inability to hit the water in the ocean, let alone Rigondeaux this night, made this easily the worst fight of the year and the clubhouse leader for the decade.
This fight was bad y’all. Real bad. Even for a Rigondeaux fight.
Why can’t both guys lose? #RigoCasimero #boxing
— Lou DiBella (@loudibella) August 15, 2021
So bad, in fact, I don’t think I’ve seen anything this unwatchable. Before this hot garbage embraced the Showtime broadcast, the clear-cut winner during the year would’ve been to Shakur Stevenson in the non-event he had against Jeremia Nakathila back in June on ESPN. That fight was pedestrian, to put nicely, and Stevenson had to say sorry for it in June. It looked like that snoozefest had this in the bag.
That was until Rigondeaux decided to his in-ring Peleton in the second round of this fight onward. Check out the editing job on this highlight video below, as I’m still impressed they squeezed over two minutes out of this.
When I saw this back in August, the headline “Rigondeaux Rides Bicycle As Casimero Retains” was all we were treated to. The only thing that made this fight worse would normally be the scorecards, which had a split decision ruling. To their defense, they had nothing to really go with here outside of the aggression and the air Casimero was swinging at in hopes it was Rigondeaux.
Rigo doing his part to make sure this venue is never again referred to as "The Punch Bowl." #RigoCasimero
— Jake Donovan (@JakeNDaBox) August 15, 2021
It was clear that Casimero wasn’t going to touch the elite outside cardio of Rigondeaux; he also wasn’t going to stand with him either after a first-round that saw some trouble. The next thirty-three minutes was an all-you-can stand of one fighter’s inability to cut off the ring and a broadcast crew asking, “What is more frustrating? Fighting Rigondeaux or watching him?”
We learned painfully in 2021 that the answer is a resounding both.
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
