Before a restless crowd at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida, Joseph ‘King Kong” Agbeko (27-1 with 22 KOs) shocked the boxing world by upsetting Vic “The Raging Bull” Darchinyan (32-2-1 with 26 KOs) to take a unanimous decision over twelve hard fought rounds and retain his portion of the bantamweight title. It was Darchinyan’s first championship attempt at the weight and while he didn’t look small or overmatched, he was beaten to the punch and unable to gain any ground with his hard left hand. Agbeko used superior movement of his feet and upper body, a solid pinpoint lead right hand and good defense to confuse Darchinyan and pound out the win.
The Darchinyan Agbeko fight started fast and furious with the Raging Bull coming out firing on all cylinders. Agbeko, who entered the ring wearing a bejeweled glove in honor of Michael Jackson, seemed ready for whatever Darchinyan brought to center ring as he landed right leads and moved to the side, ducking and dodging behind a high guard. Darchinyan stayed behind a pawing jab but was clearly looking to overwhelm his lesser experienced foe right out the gate. Agbeko started out jabbing but worked in a sneaky right hand and a left hook. It was clear his movement of his upper body in conjunction with his feet was keeping Darchinyan from finding a target to unleash on. A right by Agbeko was followed by a left by Darchinyan but was answered by yet another right by King Kong. It was a heated and close round down the stretch.
A nice exchange started the second as Agbeko got off a left right combo but ate right to the body by Darchinyan. Darchinyan was very aggressive in his energy but Agbeko was blocking a lot and slipping as well. Two left hooks by Agbeko got in but he didn’t quite turn them over and the power seemed diminished. A left off a jab by Agbeko was met by a right hand by King Kong. Towards the end of a close round, Darchinyan got in a hard left uppercut to Agbeko’s body that doubled him over.
The fight got rough inside as Agbeko opened up a cut over Darchinyan’s left eye, possibly by a head butt which is something Darchinyan was worried about coming into the fight. The normally elusive and dangerous southpaw Darchinyan didn’t look quite as sharp as he had at 115 as he ate right hand after right hand from Agbeko. At rounds end, Darchinyan lost his footing and Agbeko jumped on him, seemingly landing two lefts that may have hurt the challenger.
Over the course of the next three rounds, Agbeko would get a stranglehold on the bout, confounding Darchinyan with his movement and metronome of a right hand. Leaping rights, lead rights a shoulder feint, jab right hands landed seemingly every time Agbeko threw them. By the sixth, Darchinyan’s was looking worse for wear but still game. Cut over his left eye, check swelling, he looked like he needed something dramatic to happen. But sadly for him, he had landed his Sunday punch a few times to little or not effect.
The seventh was a strange round. Agbeko was in control through most of the round until referee Tommy Kimmons ruled that an off balance push from Darchinyan actually scored a knockdown of Agbeko. Replays showed otherwise. But this wasn’t the strangest thing. The round ended up being four minutes long as the time keeper apparently spaced out at the 2:50 mark and let things go a little longer.
The “knockdown” seemed to energize Darchinyan who came out hot for the eighth. But Agbeko would have an answer for him as he got off a nice 3 punch combo. A series of hard rights by Agbeko seemed to stun Darchinyan but the challenger wouldn’t give up and fought back like a champion. They traded down the stretch and Agbeko seemed to get the worse of it as he wobbled to his corner.
Darchinyan kept it going in the ninth, landing a crisp left to start things. Agbeko seemed a bit tired from carrying the fight throughout the night as he ate a lot of lefts from Darchinyan. The tide turned a bit especially late as they exchanged and Darchinyan landed a series of blistering left hands and dropped one in right on the button to end the round.
Agbeko would rally a bit to start the championship rounds. Shooting that right hand and working in shots to the body with an occasional jab. An accidental head butt opened up a cut on Darchinyan’s right eye badly but it would not be a factor down the stretch as team kept it under control. Agbeko really got to work in this round as he went to the body, landed rights upstairs and got in a solid one-two to end the round.
Down the stretch, Darchinyan seemed a bit tired and beaten up as he complained to the ref about head butts, got rough inside, and desperately tried to land the big left. But it was not to be. Agbeko steeled himself and fought like the champion he wants to be. Darchinyan seemed to throw caution to the wind in the twelfth, landing chopping lefts, leaping in with shots, and doing his best to get the knockout he desperately needed. Agbeko was having none of it and wisely tied or threw right leads to keep him at bay.
In the end, it was Agbeko who raised his hands in triumph, fulfilling a promise he made to the president of his homeland, Ghana. Scores were 116-111 and 114-113 twice.
“This meant a lot to me,” Agbeko said afterwards. “This is my life. This is the time for King Kong Agbeko. The difference between and King Kong is he is in the movies. I am the real thing. I don’t want to be a champion for a year. I want to be champion for two, three, many years. Ghana is behind me. I am going to be one of the greatest fighters in the world.”
In defeat, Darchinyan blamed himself and the head butts throughout the fight as much as Agbeko.
“I was supposed to be careful of [the head butts],” he said. “I wasn’t and I paid the price. I was looking for [my] left. I got frustrated and it was a bad tactic. He was so good with his moving. I couldn’t find him.”
In the co-feature lightweight contender Antonio DeMarco (22-1-1 with 16 KOs) scored a strange and surprising knockout victory over Anges “Baby Face” Adjahu (17-2 with 9 KOs) after nine rounds that saw DeMarco in his toughest boxing match yet.
If Agbeko vs. Darchinyan was a game of high stakes checkers with both guys brawling until the final bell, this was a high speed chess game with both men having their moments.
In a fight between the top two contenders for Edwin Valero’s portion of the lightweight title, an upset seemed in the making. For much of the fight, the converted from orthodox southpaw DeMarco, who is usually more accustomed to brawling, was stuck trying to box a boxer. Adjahu displayed a tricky style as he darted in and out, landed double jabs and right hands and getting out of the way or picking off shots.
DeMarco had a potentially early night when he landed hard left hand to the left of Adjahu’s head in round one but he was unable to capitalize. It would be his bets moment for a long time as he Adjahu composed himself over the course of the next few rounds and took control of things.
DeMarco was able to land a left here and there but seemed unwilling or unable to get a brawl going and negate the movement of his surprisingly up to the task challenger. As the fight progressed however, he began to let his hands go to great effect and had Adjahu hurt a couple times. But the veteran proved elusive throughout and made DeMarco work for every little or big thing he got.
Coming into the bout, DeMarco’s team stressed patience and that is was the watchword of the night as he pressured but stayed economical as he hunted down Adjahu.
The end would come late as DeMarco, who had stepped up his aggression, began to land his left hand over and over. He would get in a left that cut open Adjahu and begin an odd sequence of events. Adjahu, cut, half turned away from Demarco, motioned to the ref he was cut and attempt to take a knee. But the move came right after a hard punch and so referee Tellis Assemenious seemed to think he was a fighter simply going down for the count. But Adjahu was taking a knee and as he almost got down one of his, DeMarco got off two punches that landed near the back of Adjahu’s head. Adjahu complained and then lay on the canvas with his face in his hands. The ref picked up the count and continued until he reached ten. At which point Adjahu jumped up and complained he wasn’t hurt but simply waiting for the ref to admonish DeMarco. The time was 2:59 of the ninth round.
For DeMarco, the win by KO felt needed but in reality the judges had the fight a draw. The victory propels him into a title shot at the man many in the division feel is its biggest puncher, Edwin Valero.
“He’s a great boxer,” said DeMarco afterward. “He took a knee. I didn’t want to him but seemed like he didn’t want to fight anymore.”
When his future was asked about, his promoter, Gary Shaw said “He’s the mandatory. Now we fight for the title.”
Understandably, Adjahu was incensed in his post fight interview.
I was cut,” he said. “I was hit and the blood started to come. I stepped down so the ref could come see the cut. When I went down he hit me on the back of my neck. I was winning the fight. It was a good fight. It wasn’t right to stop it.”
While Adjahu wants a rematch, it’s safe to say this fight was a case of win this one, look good in the next one. Whether he can do that against Valero remains to be seen.
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