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Without a doubt 2017 has been one of the best years for boxing in recent memory. From Canelo and Golovkin finally facing off and MayMac not causing the collapse of Western Civilazation to the excellent 'Superfly' card the sport has delivered memorable moments throughout. And to cap it all off for the first time in professional history two gold medalists face off in a long awaited in showdown on ESPN following the Heisman Trophy presentation. Vasyl Lomachenko  Considered by some to be the best amateur boxer of all time, 2008 featherweight and 2012 lightweight gold medalist Lomacheko boasts an almost mythic 396-1 record with that one loss having been avenged. When he turned pro in 2013 he signed with Top Rank with an unusual demand in the era of marination , a title shot as soon as possible. When that shot in his second fight came, against the rugged veteran Orlando Salido, it seemed as if this was dictionary definition of a Monkey's Paw wish. Salido came in several pounds over the 126 pound limit and took advantage of notoriously atrocious referee Laurence Cole to augment his professional advantage by peppering Lomachenko with an inordinate number of (uncalled) low blows. Despite this Lomachenko stayed competitive throughout and nearly earned a stoppage in the 12 round but ended up losing a decision. With Salido missing weight he was immediately eligible to compete for the vacant belt in his next fight against Gary Russell Jr. who, despite a 24-0 record, was often referred to as "Mr. TBA" for the poor quality of his opposition. Lomachenko became a revelation as he danced around the fast-handed Russell to a, dubious if only for a stray draw card turned in by Lisa Giampa, decision and a world title in his third professional fight. After 3 poor mandatory challengers-even if one was on the Mayweather-Pacquiao undercard-he moved up to the 130 pound division to overwhelm and knocked out junior lightweight fixture Rocky Martinez. He would follow that up with a surprising domination of undefeated knockout artist Nicholas Walters, humiliating him so thoroughly that Walters' trainer halted the bout after 7 rounds with "no mas" . That same preternatural footwork and movement were on display in his fight against the game if not spectacular Jason Sosa but Lomachenko has begun to add something of a showmanship to his craft as well which should play well with the expanded audience in addition to his otherworldly skill.  Given Rigondeaux’s history with Top Rank and the availability of a number of contendors in at Lomachenko’s current weight of 130 it seemed as if the ship had finally sailed on this fight but almost out of nowhere it came together and here we are. In this era of “it’s all about the 0” Lomachenko certainly doesn’t have that to worry about that as he lost his in second professional fight. The momentum is surely on his side as well as, while Rigondeaux has struggled to find much competition at all in recent years, Lomachenko has had HBO and ESPN roll the red carpet and has taken advantage and a decisive victory-especially since it would likely involve him pushing the action and utilizing his incredible footwork and hand speed-would be massive in terms of solidifying his position as a consensus top 3 (at worst) fighter with a massive win at his back. Conversely, a defeat on such a large platform and likely in a lackluster fashion would be no doubt be a setback but of all the top fighters today Lomachenko strikes one as the one who won’t less a loss get him too off-track. After all, he has been there before. Guillermo Rigondeaux  2000 and 2004 bantamweight gold medalist Rigondeaux defected from Cuba in 2007 with current junior middleweight Titleist Erislandy Lara and turned pro in 2009. By 2013 and Rigondeaux was an undefeated champion at 122 but still struggling to turn his Cuban amateur style-though he is far from the boxing Ambien that his critics accuse him of being-into more than just undercard bouts on Manny Pacquiao undercards. In April he finally got that opportunity against flawed but feared puncher Nonito Donaire. Donaire had come into 2013 the 2012 fighter of the year, had not lost since 2001 and was considered a top 5 pound for pound fighter.  What should have been his greatest moment turned out to be lesson in the business of boxing as not only the boxing media-namely ESPN’s Dan Rafael-but even his own promoter Bob Arum turned on him for having the audacity to neutralize Donaire and while he did himself no favors with a truly fetid performance against Joseph Agebko in December of that year, it was clear his career had hit the skids when it should have taken off. He would leave Top Rank and not fight in the US until putting in another tepid performance (definitely a theme developing here) on the undercard of Canelo-Cotto in November 2015. Then on the Ward-Kovalev 2 undercard came a fight against Moises Flores which ended in bizarre no contest after 1 round. Moving up two weight classes and facing 8 year age disadvantage there can be little doubt that Rigondeaux is the underdog and the one taking the chance. Given what happened to him after defeating Donaire it’s not clear cut to say what a win would do for Rigo’s career but it would be career-defining for sure. And perhaps in this era where promoters and networks actually seem to be listening to fans that might be something quite better than it turned out to be 4 and a half years ago. As great as the main event is there really isn’t much to say about the undercard. Puerto Rican prospect Christopher Diaz will fight for a lessor version of the WBO junior lightweight belt being contested by Lomachenko and Rigondeaux. Former heavyweight title challenger Bryant Jennings will attempt to climb back to relevance with a win over face club Don Haynesworth (who has never fought outside of North Carolina) 2016 Olympians Michael Conlan and Shakur Stevenson continue their pro progressions.
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Dec 10, 2017 02:54
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how long until the undercard starts?
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Dec 10, 2017 03:06
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Marching Powder posted:how long until the undercard starts? Basically whenever they stop talking about the Trophy For White Quarterbacks
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Dec 10, 2017 03:08
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very hard to stay awake til 3 or 4am tbh but i dont wanna miss this
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Dec 10, 2017 03:08
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hexwren posted:Basically whenever they stop talking about the Trophy For White Quarterbacks hmm. well i've been interested in seeing shakur stevenson. he's supposed to be something special.
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Dec 10, 2017 03:09
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You're a good lad, SituAsian Winning this fight would be the closet thing Rigo will get to having some sort of legacy in the pro game, but Lomachenko has that sort of hyper-competent look of inevitability, if you know what i mean. Basically I think Lomachenko will win
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Dec 10, 2017 03:11
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Marching Powder posted:hmm. well i've been interested in seeing shakur stevenson. he's supposed to be something special. It's always hard to tell with these prospects unless they either get the Lomachenko treatment or some journeyman stops them but Stevenson looks good neough now. To be fair he's looked pretty underwhelming in some of his early fights. Also no Teddy Atlas 
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Dec 10, 2017 03:16
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crawford vs spence should happen
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Dec 10, 2017 03:32
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Cruz is totally outclassed
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Dec 10, 2017 03:45
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sportsgenius86 posted:Cruz is totally outclassed I guess we should be happy he's well enough to complain about that stoppage. Because man he was done.
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Dec 10, 2017 03:47
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Not sure why the ref let that go to a third round, Cruz was totally done at the end of the second.
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Dec 10, 2017 03:48
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I think it was just "he stood up okay"
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Dec 10, 2017 03:49
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drat this is tonight
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Dec 10, 2017 03:53
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big mistake to stick three pointless fights before the big deal after the football thing
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Dec 10, 2017 03:57
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undercards should be banned. just my 2 cents
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Dec 10, 2017 03:59
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Who the gently caress invited Stephen A. Smith
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Dec 10, 2017 03:59
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i dislike conlan. i thought his bitching at the olympics was spectacularly unwarranted and i hope he fucks this up somehow.
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Dec 10, 2017 04:06
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Benne posted:Who the gently caress invited Stephen A. Smith I dunno but I dislike them.
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Dec 10, 2017 04:07
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Marching Powder posted:i dislike conlan. i thought his bitching at the olympics was spectacularly unwarranted and i hope he fucks this up somehow. I knew I recognized the name from somewhere but I don't remember what his complaint was.
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Dec 10, 2017 04:08
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hexwren posted:I knew I recognized the name from somewhere but I don't remember what his complaint was. he lost to a russian and turned into a massive loving bitch. i watched the fight and saw conlan hit the russian's gloves all night and the russian winning a clear but competitive fight.
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Dec 10, 2017 04:09
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What’s with all the lovely rosary tattoos
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Dec 10, 2017 04:20
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sportsgenius86 posted:What’s with all the lovely rosary tattoos irish.
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Dec 10, 2017 04:23
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What time does the main card start?
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Dec 10, 2017 04:23
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Conlan looks like the scrawny, whimpy nerd who gets crushed by the monster villain in Act 1 of a boxing movie
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Dec 10, 2017 04:26
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butros posted:What time does the main card start? Nowish
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Dec 10, 2017 04:32
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butros posted:What time does the main card start? should be on next i think, hopefully soon
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Dec 10, 2017 04:32
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Conlan is doing gently caress all, loving time waster
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Dec 10, 2017 04:33
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Lionel Richie posted:Conlan is doing gently caress all, loving time waster yeah it was disappointing. i know it's good to get rounds up but outclassing an opponent to that degree and not finishing him is a bad look. gently caress conlan.
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Dec 10, 2017 04:36
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SAS is currently saying Loma gains nothing from beating Rigo? Of course that would be SAS's take.
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Dec 10, 2017 04:46
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Grittybeard posted:SAS is currently saying Loma gains nothing from beating Rigo? lol he'll have an actually impressive name on his resume
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Dec 10, 2017 04:47
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WHY IS STEPHEN A SMITH HERE
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Dec 10, 2017 04:48
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I do love teddy atlas
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Dec 10, 2017 04:52
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Beat his rear end Loma
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Dec 10, 2017 04:56
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imagine if rigo wins the boringest fight ever
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Dec 10, 2017 04:56
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This is actually happening. I'm so happy! ...and we are a tiny part of society that as a whole doesn't care,
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Dec 10, 2017 04:56
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thehappyprince posted:imagine if rigo wins the boringest fight ever I suspect the judges won't allow this to happen, but it would be pretty amazing.
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Dec 10, 2017 04:58
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this was the longest goddamn ringwalk
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Dec 10, 2017 04:59
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I can't make it out cause I haven't had non blurry angles, but does this guy have two separate dragon ball tattoos? Hell yeah.
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Dec 10, 2017 04:59
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thehappyprince posted:imagine if rigo wins the boringest fight ever I'm doing it, I'm imagining every Rigo fight
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Dec 10, 2017 04:59
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hexwren posted:this was the longest goddamn ringwalk I was thinking this for a half second and then flashed back to Prince Naseem and just laughed.
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Dec 10, 2017 05:00
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