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Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

September 29, 2007

Arco Arena-Sacramento, California

IBF Bantamweight (118 pounds) 12 Round Championship Match:

Luis Perez (25-1, 16 KO's, 118 pounds) (c) vs. Joseph Agbeko (24-1, 21 KO's, 116.75 pounds)

Perez won this championship when it was vacant on July 7, 2007 over Genaro Garcia, in Bridgeport, Connecticut via round 7 technical knockout. This championship was previously held by Rafael Marquez, who vacated the title to move up in weight to challenge Israel Vazquez for the super bantamweight championship. This is Perez' first defense of this title.

Perez is a former champion at 115 pounds, but was stripped of the title after failing to make weight for a scheduled defense against Ricardo Vargas in November 2006. The champion again came in over weight for this title defense, weighing 0.5 pounds over the weight limit on his first try at the scales, but made weight on his second attempt. He has faced very good opposition. Perez' last loss was over 7 years ago to a boxer with a 20-2 record at the time, Vernie Torres, in his (Perez') first professional match in the United States.

The native of Managua, Nicaragua's last match was the victory over Garcia. The match was an unaired undercard match on the Showtime event headlined by Joachim Alcine vs. Travis Simms, and also had the great match between Nonito Donaire and Vic Darchinyan.

Perez is ranked by The Ring Magazine as the number 8 contender to the vacant championship at 118 pounds.

Agbeko is a native of Ghana, now residing in Bronx, New York. He has been brought in to lose. The quality of opponents he has faced that have earned himthis title shot is embarrassing. Among his 24 wins, 11 were against boxers making their professional debut. An additional 6 of his wins were against opponents who had never won a match, and another boxer only had 1 victory, before losing to Agbeko. That leaves 6 wins against boxers with 3 or more victories. In boxing this is championship material.

The challenger's last match, and only in the United States, was a round 4 technical knockout victory over Fidencio Reyes on August 9, 2007 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Reyes had a record of 10-4-1 entering the match, but was 4-3 in his last 7 matches against weak competition. That match, also took place at a higher weight class.

Agbeko is unranked by The Ring Magazine, and the number 70 ranked boxer at 118 pounds by boxrec.com.

Agbeko has the age advantage at 27-years-old, compared to Perez who is 29-years-old. Both boxers are 5' 5.5" tall. Perez has a slight reach advantage with a 66.5" wingspan, while Agbeko has a 66" wingspan. The boxers unofficial weights on the night of the match are unavailable. The champion will box out of the southpaw stance. The challenger is a natural southpaw, but will box out of the orthodox stance and squared up at times.

The California modified version of the unified rules of boxing are in effect for this match. The only difference from the unified rules is that both the referee and doctor can stop the match, rather then only the referee. The referee is Dan Stell. The judges are from Florida, Nevada, and California.

Agbeko wins an action packed round 1, 10-9. The two boxers heads came together numerous times in round 1, and the clashes may cause a cut very soon. Really close round 2, with lots of action. Agbeko scored with the cleaner punches in round 2 and takes it, 10-9. The action in this match has been fast and sloppy, but entertaining. The Sacramento crowd has booed this match at several points already, which is inexplicable. Agbeko wins round 3, 10-9. Both boxers are doing nothing defensively. This match is a technical boxing nightmare. Agbeko leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27.

Agbeko wins round 4, 10-9. The challenger is holding his lead left hand below his belt line, and not being hit. Press row scoring after 4 rounds has it unanimously for Agbeko: 40-37. 40-37, 40-36. Al Bernstein, working color commentary, and my scorecard has Agbeko leading after 4 rounds, 40-36. With 52 seconds to go in round 5, Perez is given his final warning for hitting low and told the next infraction will cost him a point. Agbeko wins round 5, 10-9. With 20 seconds to go in round 6, Perez goes down to the mat. It is the result of a push, and correctly ruled a slip by the referee. The action is restarted with 15 seconds to go in round 6. Agbeko wins round 6, 10-9. Agbeko leads on Bernstein and my scorecard after 6 rounds, 60-54. Press row scoring after 6 rounds has it unanimously for Agbeko: 60-55, 60-55, 60-54.

With 2:01 to go in round 7, Agbeko goes down to the mat. It was the result of Perez pushing down on the back of the challenger's neck, and correctly ruled a slip by the referee. The action is restarted with 1:53 to go in the round, after a warning is issued to Perez for the push. With 1:10 to go in round 7, a cut has developed under theleft eye of Perez. It will not be a factor in the match. Agbeko wins round 7, 10-9. Perez was in danger of being knocked out at the end of round 7, and looks unlikely to finish the match standing. The doctor was sent to examine Perez after round 7, and appeared to say the champion was cleared to continue. Then the referee stepped in and stopped the match, immediately after the doctor had cleared Perez to continue before round 8 began. That is odd.

The final decision as read by the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is: at 3:00 of round 7 the referee has stopped the contest on the advice of the ringside physician, making the winner by technical knockout and new IBF Bantamweight Champion of the World Joseph King Kong (legal middle names on his birth certificate, therefore no quotes) Agbeko. The win moves Agbeko to 25-1, with 22 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

After the match, the doctor was interviewed and explained that Perez was checked after round 6, too. Then when the doctor examined Perez after round 7, and found that "neurologically he was deteriorating" from the multiple blows to the head. The doctor thought it was unsafe for Perez to sustain anymore blows to the head and ruled that Perez should not continue. Meaning the doctor did stop the match, but the lag in communication created all of the confusion about who was responsible for stopping the match.

Agbeko said in his post match interview that for his next opponent he would like to avenge his only loss and unify his title with the WBA 118 pound championship in a match with Wladimir Sidorenko.

Agbeko may have scored the biggest upset in boxing this year winning the title in this match in dominating fashion over a top ranked boxer. However, Agbeko has serious technical flaws in every aspect of his game, and will need to face lower level contenders to be successful in the near future.

After this match, Perez needs to start rebuilding from the ground up. His defensive flaws were exposed, and facing anything less then poor or light hitting competition until they are fixed would be problematic. Perez has beaten some very good opposition, but this performance is baffling out of a top boxer. He appeared slow at points, and could be hit with right hands from Agbeko at will.

The opening match was very entertaining. The upset factor made it more exciting.