Rigondeaux is boring, insists Casey

HE may have won two Olympic gold medals and two amateur world titles before claiming the WBA crown, but Willie “Big Bang” Casey has found Guillermo Rigondeaux “boring to watch.”

And the Limerick star promised yesterday to offer fans a new insight into the world champion when they touch gloves at the Citywest Conference Centre on March 19.

Casey said: “I watched some of his fights on DVD. I watched them as every other boxing fan would watch them.

And Casey’s opinion? “I think he is boring to watch. He is very skilful, very technical and is excellent at what he does. But he is not one of those exciting fighters I like to watch. So I left it to my coaches to watch his fights and decide what I need to do to beat him. He just cruised through the fights I watched. He stays comfortable and relaxed but that is all about to change for him as I am not going to allow him to relax for one split second.

“I am going to take him out of that comfort zone, I will up the pace and I will take him to places he has never been before.”

Rigondeaux had been due to meet Casey face to face at a press conference in Thomond Park yesterday but that had to be rescheduled when he encountered visa difficulties at Miami Airport on Friday.

“I was a bit disappointed,” Casey admitted. “I would have liked to meet him and maybe put a little bit of fear into him. I know for a fact that he is living the high life — jets and limos to wherever he wants to go — but he is now heading into the unknown.

“It is not essential for me to get to meet him before the fight — I don’t want to shake hands with him or anything like that because I won’t be showing him any respect. In fact it is the opposite. I will be showing him a lot of disrespect. If he wants my respect he is going to have to earn it the hard way. Once he steps into my territory he is going to have to accept the consequences because I am going to rough him up, push him around, throw him about and put him off his game.”

And Casey is keen to correct some misconceptions. He continued: “Last week he described me as a one trick pony but I am going to show him that I am a lot more. We will come out with our game plan and if that does not work there is another trick or two and then 10 more up my sleeve. He is not going to like it but he has opted to step into my territory and put his world championship belt on the line and, believe me, he is not going to take it back to America with him. And if he wants it back then he is going to have to come back to Ireland and fight me for it because I will be the new world champion.”

“We believe in ourselves and that belief is very important. My strength and conditioning coach, Joe Clifford, is working on strengthening up my shots, my speed and my agility.

“I have to thank Gary Hyde for giving me the opportunity to fight for this world title so soon. We were hoping maybe it would happen towards the end of the year. He wanted to bring a world champion to Ireland to fight me. He discovered the Cubans and brought them back. A pity he did not discover me first. It would have saved him the bother and a lot of money.”