Following a quiet, somewhat sad surrender in his December 2017 Jr. lightweight title challenge of Vasyl Lomachenko, it was easy to wonder if boxing has seen the last big chance for lineal Jr. featherweight king Guillermo Rigondeaux (20-1, 13 KO). 

Almost four years later, we know that isn’t the case. 

This Saturday, the 40-year old two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist and still, yes still, reigning Jr. featherweight king will try to add one of the primary major sanctioning body belts at bantamweight to his ledger. In a fight that was on, off, and then on again, Rigondeaux will challenge 32-year old Filipino WBO titlist John Riel Casimero (30-4, 21 KO) in a fight that was initially, and became again, one of the more intriguing fights of the summer (Saturday, Showtime, 10 PM EST).

Rigondeaux looked like he’d been replaced in this main event by Nonito Donaire but a war of words between camps and debate about testing scuttled Donaire-Casimero. The questions around the original and resumed main event remain the same. Can the master marksman Rigondeaux use the power and aggression of Casimero against the younger champion or will Casimero send Rigondeaux out of the upper echelons of boxing for good?

Casimero has held titles at Jr. flyweight, flyweight, and now bantamweight but only recently begun to capture attention beyond hardcore circles in the United States. Casimero has scored six consecutive wins by knockout since a tepid loss to Jonas Sultan in September 2017 including a title winning effort against the respected Zolani Tete.

Casimero has made a habit of beating fighters with styles that were certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. Casimero Jr. flyweight title win in 2012 was a foul fest against a sort of artist of rule bending in Luis Lazarte. Casimero won his flyweight title in 2016 against the tricky, and sometimes tough to watch, Amnat Ruenroeng.

Now, in what might be the highest profile fight of his career, Casimero faces a talent whose style has made for a sort of Rorschach test for boxing fans. 

There has never been any debate about whether or not Rigondeaux is good.

The debate has been about whether being good is the only thing that matters. To a sizable part of the boxing fan base and a section of the press and punditry, Rigondeaux was slapped with one of the toughest labels to shake: boring.

To his supporters, Rigondeaux has been a misunderstood and mistreated genius. On the road to and well through his career best win over Nonito Donaire in April 2013, Rigondeaux built a vocal, devoted cult following. They can point to what happened after the Agbeko fight as part of the unfairness he’s faced. Rigondeaux scored a first round knockout of Sod Kokietgym and came off the deck twice in a violent affair with Hisashi Amagasa. Only the most devoted saw either outing and when Rigondeaux was back on US airwaves it was in a long, forgettable ten rounds against Drian Francisco.  

The Cult of Rigo has to have their fingers crossed this weekend for a long sought reminder of what drew them to Rigondeaux all along. 

To his detractors, Rigondeaux has been just flat boring to watch far too often. The win over Donaire pushed some of that aside for about a night. It was a brilliant performance. A follow up win over Joseph Agbeko, a shutout of a proven former bantamweight titlist, was less than stellar television. It famously saw fans heading for the exit before the night was over and led to Rigondeaux’s exile from US airwaves for a time. His own promoter at the time, Top Rank, seemingly couldn’t wait to be free of him and contributed to the negatives of the Rigondeaux narrative. 

Since the Lomachenko loss, working under the PBC umbrella, Rigondeaux has had moments of drama and reminders of what his approach to distance dominance can look like. The Cuban struggled with veteran Julio Ceja before a cracking eighth round finishing blow in a damn good scrap. In his last outing, Rigondeaux weathered an exciting opening salvo from Liborio Solis before finding a groove and completely shutting Solis down, including a knockdown in round seven. 

The Solis win reminded everyone how cagey and difficult Rigondeaux can be. Whether it reminded them of what they like, or don’t, about watching Rigondeaux varied.

It’s hard not to see merit in both sides of the debate. 

Even more so than at higher weights, action is often considered a must in the US market on the lower end of the scale. The legends below featherweight almost universally meet the demand for violence. Ruben Olivares, Wilfredo Gomez, the young versions of Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales...they are fondly recalled because of the leather they let fly. While Rigondeaux can be a devastating puncher, he works in moderate volume on the best nights and fights that don’t end early can follow a pattern. Several opponents have tasted his power, realized they can’t figure out how to hit him, and accepted checkmate early.

Checkmate doesn’t result in Rigondeaux changing gears to send the defeated home early. Part of what makes him good is his discipline. It might be admirable on a skill level, but 30 or 40 minutes can pass slowly for viewers. Fans tuning in for a fight don’t have to like it when one clearly isn’t going to break out and networks who didn’t want to invest in the possibility of something that could result in channel changing weren’t inherently wrong.

Boxing is an entertainment.

It is also a sport.

Sports are supposed to be about finding out who the best competitors are. For a generation at Jr. featherweight after Rigondeaux-Donaire, Rigondeaux didn’t get a real chance to defend his position as the king of his mountain. Talented battlers like Abner Mares, Leo Santa Cruz, Scott Quigg, and Carl Frampton made plenty of money and plenty of fans fighting each other.

None of them went anywhere near Rigondeaux. The easy excuse, that Rigondeaux wasn’t enough of a draw, was betrayed by strong ratings for Rigondeaux’s battles with Donaire and Lomachenko. Even fans who might decry the style of Rigondeaux showed they were in when he was matched with elite talent. 

Rigondeaux versus any of the best Jr. featherweights who wouldn’t fight him would likely have been successful attractions. Some blame can be leveled at the way Rigondeaux was handled, with Top Rank and afterwards. 21 fights in a dozen years is light by any standard. Absence didn't help Rigondeaux's cause.

It doesn’t excuse that no one of note was demanding to prove they were the very best. They couldn’t without demanding Rigondeaux. Instead, Rigondeaux was a often a name not mentioned unless prompted.         

In Casimero, Rigondeaux has the highest profile foe near his natural size in over seven years. He’s not moving up two weight classes for a one off payday. A win this weekend would be the sort of encore, even celebration, of Rigondeaux the Cult of Rigo has been waiting to see since the Donaire battle. In what is surely the twilight of Rigondeaux’s career, it could set the stage for an unexpected rematch with WBC titlist Nonito Donaire or the recognized leader at bantamweight, WBA/IBF titlist Naoya Inoue. 

There is a chance, however slim given history’s unkindness toward the aging at lower weights, for Rigondeaux to continue to get the fights now he couldn’t for whatever reason over the last seven years. Now making his second start at bantamweight, the sporting side of boxing is working for Rigondeaux. 

The sporting side of things would have been better if there had been more of this all along.                    

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.