Most avoided fighters of the last 25 years

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Guillermo Rigondeaux

The Cuban maestro has simply been unable to land a marquee name since dominating Nonito Donaire in 2013. Subsequently stripped of alphabet belts (who ended up around the waist of a more marketable fighters) and now Ring Magazine’s belt as a result. Rival title holders such as Carl Frampton concede that ‘Rigo’ is the true champion at 122 lbs. Potentially the world's best fighter, Rigondeaux has been left to face British champion James Dickens (rated somewhere in the region of 70th in the world) on the undercard of Terry Flanagan vs Derry Mathews in Manchester.

Gennady Golovkin

The list of fighters reluctant or flat out rejecting a fight with Golovkin continues to grow. The last three linear champions: Sergio Martinez, Miguel Cotto and Saul Alvarez all chose to face naturally lighter men than their most obvious one contender. The likes of Felix Sturm, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Carl Froch and most recently, BJ Saunders have all rejected fight offers. Golovkin has stuck doggedly to his quest of unifying the middleweight division, yet may have to take on bigger men such as James DeGale, Gilberto Ramirez and Bernard Hopkins as his options at 160 run dry.

Roy Jones Jr.

In the mid-90s, Jones was so good, so other-worldly that he very quickly ran out of rivals at 168 lbs. In 1996, Jones was struggling for an opponent - resulting in the 39-year-old (possibly 40, 42 or 43 depending who you ask) Mike McCallum stepped up to the plate. Jones carried McCallum through twelve rounds before relocating to 175 lbs full-time in order to land more competitive fights.

Winky Wright

A left hander with a watertight defence, Wright struggled to land the big fights junior middleweight – leading trainer Dan Goossen to declare him the “most avoided” fighter he’d ever seen. After twice defeating Shane Mosley in 2004 at 154, Wright had to move up to middleweight and beyond to land bouts against the likes of Jermain Taylor, Bernard Hopkins and Felix Trinidad.

Paul Williams

In 2009, Williams was reduced to fighting Winky Wright - the other most avoided boxer around - in in order to land a TV date. A physical freak at 6' 1" with a 79" reach, Williams decalred himself willing to fight anyone from 147-to-160 lbs after defeating Antonio Margarito and avenging a loss to Carlos Quintana in emphatic fashion. A stunning knock-out loss to Sergio Martinez in 2010 appeared to send Williams on a downward spiral. He finally landed a marquee name in a PPV fight in 2012 – Saul Alvarez – only to suffer career-ending injuries in a motorcycle crash.

I think Rigo can be beaten - it would probably take Frampton on a good night (with home support) to do it. It's not like Frampton or Quigg would lose their belts for long - even if they lost!

Personally, I thought the donaire fight was pretty one-sided, bar one punch (in a dull, lack of action, kind of way). The reality is rigo is not getting any younger, does get careless, does get caught and had been troubled. The donaire knock down was a flash one, but he was definitely ruffled for a while after the amagasa Knockdown.

The fact he's very difficult to outbox doesn't make him unbeatable. Frampton would be a very live underdog, quigg a longer shot for me. I might review those opinions after Saturday!

Be interesting to see how Warrington matches up to amagasa

milkyboy wrote:Personally, I thought the donaire fight was pretty one-sided, bar one punch (in a dull, lack of action, kind of way). The reality is rigo is not getting any younger, does get careless, does get caught and had been troubled. The donaire knock down was a flash one, but he was definitely ruffled for a while after the amagasa Knockdown.

The fact he's very difficult to outbox doesn't make him unbeatable. Frampton would be a very live underdog, quigg a longer shot for me. I might review those opinions after Saturday!

Be interesting to see how Warrington matches up to amagasa

I'm not sure that's a great match-up for Warrington to be honest - he's a big lad and obviously has some power.

Tommy Morrisson easily the most avoided fighter of the last 25 years.

After he got HIV that is.