Teofilo Stevenson and Guillermo Rigondeaux Short Films In the Works

Negotiating something right now that would bring out two little films on the lives of Teofilo Stevenson and Guillermo Rigondeaux into the world. Nudging a little closer to that happening...

Teofilo Stevenson and Guillermo Rigondeaux Short Films

Right after Guillermo Rigondeaux's pummeling of ESPN 2012 Fighter of the Year Nonito Donaire, two offers came in for short films based Teofilo Stevenson and another on Rigondeaux himself. While the Miami Herald ran a front page feature on my work with Stevenson, accompanied by a brief clip from Split Decision, I have never publicly aired any footage from the last formal interview (albeit illegal) Stevenson ever granted. By far in my nearly 4 year journey exploring Cuba through the prism of Cuban boxers rejecting or accepting money to cross the Florida Straights, Stevenson's interview is the most explosive and moving thing I've ever captured. The short will explore his reasons for rejecting millions to fight Ali and the consequences, for better or worse, of that decision. The short will also explore Ali's fascinating relationship with Stevenson, including visiting the island twice and donating millions to Cuba in opposition to the embargo.

The Rigondeaux short will be a little different. While Rigondeaux's certainly achieved the dream he had back in Havana of defeating professional boxing's best, I've never been able to shake the feeling of viewing him as a kind of Orpheus-like figure: never able to look back. My aim to is to make an attempt at doing that for him, and an audience, and look at the cost of leaving.

An exciting and complicated element of these two shorts is the obvious sense that to quantify the costs of staying or going in Cuba, as an athlete or an ordinary citizen, exposes an impossibly obscene choice to impose upon any human being.

The sour truth you discover meeting the extraordinary Cuban people is that Faustian bargain is in either decision. Which goes a long way to explaining why no Cuban family on the island or off it has been spared the damage of fracture.

Guillermo Rigondeaux After Nonito Donaire

An announcer once mentioned, while calling a Rigondeaux fight, of waiting for the El Duque of the boxing ring. He mocked that he hadn't seen him all night Rigondeaux was fighting.

Well, last Saturday I saw boxing's version of El Duque take the stage and lay waste to boxing's best with relative ease. And the ease itself hadn't required learning a solitary thing since having left Cuba. Rigondeaux's talent was fully formed on the first day he stepped on American soil and he was perfectly  suited back then of doing what he did last weekend.

But now he finally had a chance to prove it. And he did.

Cuban kismet being what it is, I was standing next to El Duque's brother Livan at ringside. We watched Rigondeaux masterfully assert not just his legacy, but also those of all the Cubans who came before him. Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon, Hector Vinent, and a host of others, summarily dismissed as unready for the professional ranks by the experts, now, through Rigondeaux's routing of the sport's 2012 Fighter of the Year, get a new appraisal and hopefully a fair shake of not just being qualified as great amateur fighters.

That being said, the crowd seemed pretty clearly to be comprised of about 98% Donaire fans, 1.5% general interest fans, and .5% Cuban/Rigondeaux fans. Going forward with such a technically brilliant, yet fan unfriendly style is going to be a serious challenge for the career of someone on the brink of turning 33. But maybe this is enough.

Stevenson never had Ali, nor Savon and Tyson, and Vinent didn't get De La Hoya––Rigondeaux did get Donaire, and it was Donaire that looked like the amateur without a clue how to handle the situation.

Rigondeaux Crushes Donaire in New York to Take Titles

If Floyd Mayweather had routed Manny Pacquiao in the same manner Rigondeaux schooled Donaire, they'd hail the performance as genius. Instead the chorus chimes in that it was boring.

Rigondeaux was a Stradivarius in the ring and didn't allow Donaire had an answer or a plan B. Given the accolades showered on Donaire after the last year, how is it Rigondeaux fails to reap the credit he deserves for an achievement like this?

I don't get it.

Day of the Fight: Rigondeaux vs. Donaire

After weighing in yesterday afternoon, I followed Rigondeaux as he slid an arm into his Miami Heat leather jacket from MSG to his hotel across the street. Over the last few years of filming, nearly everyday that I've followed Rigondeaux in my documentary an unexpected disappointment happens along with some magic. I don't even bother anymore preparing for either. When I've tried I always get ambushed or miss the good stuff anyway. Fate likes to tease.

Yesterday's magic took place as Rigondeaux stopped his entourage, all in matching TEAM RIGONDEAUX tracksuits, at a little hotdog stand next to the Garden. He ordered a hotdog and a coke with what liked like a $10 bill that he didn't ask change for, wolfed them down, and charged back to his hotel room. Not a big deal, but it was, too.

It was that little slice of America that also reminded me a great deal of first meeting him in Havana munching on a little funnel of peanuts he bought off the street there. On a human level, Havana and New York have a lot of overlap at certain moments that have always charmed me.

Now we see where this story takes a considerable turn, probably one that defines Rigondeaux's journey nearly much as anything else for most people. While it's easy enough to confess I'm tense and excited over what will take place tonight, I can't say this fight defines him for me as much as what it took him to get to the US.

El Duque was once asked about being nervous pitching at Yankee Stadium on his way to winning the world series on one of the most dominant teams ever assembled in 1998. He shrugged, "It's nothing compared to pitching in Havana at Latino Americano."

I have a sneaking feeling, having spent many many hours at Kid Chocolate watching 100's of fights, Rigondeaux might feel, though probably not admit, the same thing in his case with Radio City Music Hall.

This part always creeps me out where a life amounts to a pair of dice jangling inside a fist and the toss. The beauty and the tragedy of this one, he's pushed every chip he could to let it ride on the verdict...

Donaire-Rigondeaux Final Press Conference at MSG

As far as staring contests go, where boxing press conferences are concerned, Donaire and Rigondeaux vied for the world record. Easily 4 minutes.

Rigondeaux also appeared to be taking his fashion cues from Michael Jackson's wardrobe in Thriller. Donaire combated the red leather jacket with a soul patch of his own. How either managed to survive the 4 minutes of intent glaring without breaking a smile I'll never know.

But it was interesting.

Rigondeaux vs. Donaire ESPN Piece and Promo

ESPN ran a promo for Rigondeaux's unification bout against Nonito Donaire that I wrote on the premise that this fight is an awfully nice proxy to what Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. might have been. Have a look and enjoy.

Road to Rigondeaux

Great little lead-in to Rigondeaux's fight April 13:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k3u8kK2IXrazb63VYtk

A piece of mine should be coming out a day or two before the fight on ESPN.com's website. Some more info behind the scenes on Rigo's backstory can be found at rigondeaux.com along with updates on the documentary Split Decision.