By Elisinio Castillo

Veteran trainer Pedro Diaz has stated that although he accepts some criticisms and comments, the prestigious coach affirms that there is still a lot left for former world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux.

Last December at New York's Madison Square Garden Theater, Rigondeaux suffered his first career at the hands of fellow two-time Olympic gold medal winner Vasyl Lomachenko.

Rigondeaux (17-1, 11 KOs) was dominated in the fight and then claimed that his hand was too injured to continued fighting after six rounds. Several tests were done and it was determined that Rigondeaux's injury was nothing more than a bruised hand - which raised the criticism level even higher.

Diaz believes his fighters is getting too much heat from the public over the loss - which saw him rise by two full weight divisions to challenge Lomachenko at super featherweight.

After the loss, the WBA stripped Rigondeaux of their super bantamweight championship.

"We do everything in favor of boxing. Anyone can have a bad day. Anyone can suffer an injury. A boxer with the type of history that he's had, they should respect his career," Diaz told George Ebro.

"I have no problem of any kind with Rigo, with his family, or with Rigo's team. He comes [to the gym], he is training, he is once again inserting himself into the work regime and we expect good things from him.

"[I'm going to leave his return] to his manager and his promoters, I can only emphasize that Rigo... for us, for Mundo Boxing and for Pedro Díaz, he is always going to be a great champion. The important thing is his history.

"He's like a home run hitter, and sometimes he hits and sometimes he strikes out in the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded, and that's not why you're not going to downplay him. Sometimes a basketball star misses a shot at the basket at the last minute and you should not downplay him over that. Criticism is a part of the business. It was not a great night for Rigo, but he's going to come back, and for us he's always going to be a champion."