Nonito Donaire: 'I thought I did enough to win' against Rigondeaux

Nonito Donaire's loss to Guillermo Rigondeaux last Saturday night on HBO apparently isn't sitting well with the Filipino fighter, who says he feels he did enough to get a win or at least a draw in the fight, making odd statements that both admit failure and search for an excuse:

"I wanted to pressure him, but the problem is I didn't [step on the] pedal in the last two rounds. I thought I did enough to win this fight. But again, the decision was from the judges. At least it should have been a draw. If nobody had to win that fight it should have been a draw, but if somebody had to win that fight it should have been me because I made that fight happen. I don't want to be a sore loser because he was an excellent fighter, but he didn't want to engage. That was the problem, he didn't want to engage."

Let's be really clear about this: Donaire also did not want to engage. Donaire, in fact, has a consistently low punch output in his fights, relying on one-shot power far too often. This is not something he "fell in love with" for this fight. He's done the same in the majority of his fights. Donaire does not pressure; like Rigondeaux, he is a counter puncher.

So "the problem" is that Donaire, you know, didn't do enough with a fighter entirely known as a counter puncher. Rigondeaux did nothing surprising in this fight, really. He just thoroughly outboxed Donaire, took Nonito into the exact fight that made the most sense for Rigondeaux, and then flustered and neutralized him for 12 full rounds. Donaire just couldn't do anything with Rigondeaux, and his "I made the fight happen" bit would work if he had actually attacked. He didn't actually do anything more than Rigondeaux did, and Rigondeaux without question landed the better shots in the vast majority of the rounds.