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Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

 

July 11, 2009
BankAtlantic Center-Sunrise, Florida

 

 

 

WBC Lightweight (135 pounds) 12-Round Title Elimination Match:

Antonio DeMarco (21-1-1, 15 KO's, 134.5 pounds) vs. Anges Adjaho (25-1, 14 KO's, 135 pounds)

 

This match will make the winner the mandatory contender to Edwin Valero's 135-pound belt.

 

DeMarco is designed to win this match. Valero is not medically cleared to box in the United States outside of Texas, but can box in Mexico. DeMarco is a resident of Tijuana, Mexico. If DeMarco wins here it would be an easy call to match DeMarco against Valero in the main event of a Latin Fury pay-per-view from Tijuana.

 

DeMarco's last match was a technical knockout win at 3:00 of round 9 over Almazbek "Kid Diamond" Raiymkulov at The Pond (Honda Center) in Anaheim, California on February 7, 2009. It was a very close and bloody match that ended when Diamond said he could not continue after round 9 due to a broken nose. The doctor had ruled Diamond fit to continue. However, Diamond said he did not want anymore of DeMarco, who had been reckless with his head throughout the match. DeMarco was going to win the match had it gone the distance as he was comfortably ahead on 2 of the official scorecards by the same score of 88-83, but DeMarco was trailing on the third scorecard, 86-85. In that match, DeMarco appeared very green and years away from contending for a title. DeMarco showed a lot of potential, but his punching accuracy against a very hittable target in Diamond was poor. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/5/recap-of-antonio-demarco-vs-kid-diamond.html

 

DeMarco is unranked by The Ring magazine and the number 12 ranked boxer in the world at 135 pounds by boxrec.com.

 

Adjaho's amateur boxing career is a sad story. He was Benin's only qualifier to 2000 Sydney Summer Olympiad. Unfortunately, Benin is so poor that they could not afford to send him to the Olympics. Making the story even more heart-breaking is the fact that Adjaho' father was the coach of the national team. Had Adjaho been able to go to the Olympics, he would have traveled there to be coached by his father, the person who taught him the sport.

 

Adjaho began boxing in the United States in 2006. Adjaho's first 20 professional matches were in Africa. Adjaho was undefeated in Africa, which in reality is not that impressive. Of Adjaho's opponents in Africa, 14 had zero professional wins on their record when they faced Adjaho. Three more of Adjaho's opponents in Africa had only 1 win prior to facing Adjaho. In addition, another of the opponents Adjaho defeated in Africa had only 2 wins on his record prior to facing Adjaho. That accounts for 18 of Adjaho's 20 opponents in Africa.

 

Adjaho's last match was an 8-round unanimous decision over Fernando Angulo on February 14, 2009 at the BankAtlantic Center. Adjaho weighed in for that match at 142.5 pounds, the heaviest recorded weight of his career.

 

Adjaho is unranked by The Ring and ranked by boxrec.com as the number 20 boxer in the world at 140 pounds.

 

At 23-years old, DeMarco is 6 years younger then the 29-year-old Adjaho. Both boxers officially stand 5' 9" tall, but Adjaho appears slightly taller. Adjaho has the reach advantage with a 71.5" wingspan, compared to the 71" wingspan of Adjaho. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, Adjaho should be heavier in the ring. Adjaho came in .5 pounds over the weight limit on his first attempt to make weight in a pair of underwear, but after doing the full monty came in at the weight limit. DeMarco is naturally right-handed, but will box out of the southpaw stance. Adjaho will box out of the orthodox stance.

 

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. All of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Florida. The referee is Tellis Assemenios, who is not very good.

 

The crowd has begun to vociferously boo this match 45 seconds in, as no punches have been landed or even thrown with the intent of being landed. Adjaho easily wins a boring round 1, 10-9. Adjaho wins round 2, because DeMarco did nothing in the round, 10-9. DeMarco appears to have much more power and speed then Adjaho, but no desire to punch. The crowd has been steadily booing this match, but that lessened late in round 2. That is probably because most fans have decided to treat this as a Great Khali match and are going to the bathroom and hitting the concession stands. The pace of the match picked up in round 3, relatively. It went from being a Great Khali paced match to a Kane paced match. Adjaho easily wins round 3 and it now appears he actually is the superior boxer, 10-9. In the corner after round 3, DeMarco's trainer was imploring his charge to do more. The boxer responded to the instructions with Carlito level enthusiasm. DeMarco was able to land a few good power punches to take round 4, 10-9, but after 4 rounds Adjaho leads on my scorecard, 39-37. Gus Johnson, who is doing play-by-play of this event for Showtime, is in his first year doing boxing play-by-play for Showtime. Through the first half of the year Johnson has had problems with being overly enthusiastic and loud during broadcasts. For this match Johnson is appropriately reserved. That means for this match Johnson's great deep voice has him sounding like the overnight host on a smooth jazz radio station who is trying not to wake up the listeners, and this match has all the entertainment of a Kenny G set.

 

Round 5 is close, but Adjaho wins it with a good last minute, 10-9. Ironically, as the commentators are telling the story of how Adjaho how difficulty making weight a graphic advertising Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg appears on the screen for the first time in the broadcast. Those graphics are normally shown between rounds. Johnson then helpfully makes reference to Carano having to step behind a towel to make weight at the final EliteXC show Florida. Al Bernstein, who is doing color commentary of this event, then points our that Cyborg has also had problems making weight. They then plug the August 15 show. There was a graphic for Affliction earlier in the show, but finally Strikeforce was promoted better on a Showtime event then Affliction. With 13 seconds to go in round 6, a hurt Adjaho goes stumbling back so that the ropes are the only thing keeping him standing. However, Adjaho went into the ropes, because of a slip and the action continues without a pause. Then with 8 seconds to go still in round 6, DeMarco puts himself on the canvas with a lunging left hand. The referee correctly rules it a slip and the action is almost immediately resumed. DeMarco hurts Adjaho to win round 6 solidly, 10-9, but after 6 rounds Adjaho still leads on my scorecard, 58-56. The members of press row keeping unofficial score of this match for Showtime all have Adjaho ahead after 6 rounds: 58-56, 58-57, 58-56.

 

Adjaho wins round 7, while going backwards, 10-9. Adjaho had DeMarco hurt in the early part of round 8, but gassed. That allowed DeMarco to hurt Adjaho and win a good round 8, 10-9, but Adjaho still leads on my scorecard, 77-75. Adjaho is very tired and  his hands have dropped substantially. This is allowing DeMarco to land powerful combinations in most rounds that seem bound to score a knockout. Showtime's unofficial press row scoring has Adjaho ahead on all of the scorecards after 8 rounds: 78-74, 78-75, 78-74. All of Showtime's unofficial scorekeepers at press row scored rounds 7 and 8 for Adjaho, 10-9.

 

With 12 seconds to go in round 9, Adjaho is hit with a hard left hand and takes a knee with 10 seconds to go in the round. Adjaho delayed taking the knee and DeMarco trying to press his advantage landed a grazing left hand to the back of Adjaho's head as he went to the mat. Adjaho complained to the referee and then lay down on the mat. The native of Benin wants out of this match. Adjaho turned face down on the mat and appeared to begin to cry. The referee reached the count of 8 and called an end to the match. DeMarco is going to win by knockout, which is the correct call. Once the referee called a stop to the contest, Adjaho stood up like nothing was wrong and asked why the referee stopped the match. This is clearly posturing. Adjaho wanted out, but does not want people to think he wanted the referee to stop the match. On replay it appears the punch Adjaho was selling landed before his knee hit the mat and only landed on the back of his head, because he moved. The punch was thrown legally, Adjaho made the punch land in an illegal area. That is by definition not a foul. Adjaho quit and is now out to make everyone look bad to cover the fact that he quit. That is pathetic and disrespectful to the sport. Adjaho stayed down as he heard the referee count and until he heard the referee say that the match is over in his ear. Then he immediately stood up and to complain and act bewildered the match had been stopped.

 

The official outcome courtesy of the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that at: 2:59 of round 9 the winner by way of knockout, Antonio DeMarco. The win moves DeMarco to 22-1-1 with now 16 wins coming by way of knockout. For the record, the judges scored round 9 and had the match a draw: 86-84 (Adjaho), 86-84 (DeMarco), 85-85.

 

Assemenios said after the match that he did not see Adjaho's knee touching when the boxer was hit with the punch he complained about. Therefore, the referee had no choice but to count out Adjaho. The much maligned Assemenios did an excellent job in this situation and a great job in this match.

 

DeMarco said in his post-match interview that his promoter, Gary Shaw, would decide what he does next. Shaw helpfully jumped in at that point and said DeMarco is immediately going after the title. That means DeMarco will face Valero next.

 

Adjaho told Showtime's Jim Gray in the ring after the match that he was unconscious on the ground and does not remember anything until he was up arguing with the referee. Strangely, Adjaho clearly remembers being hit behind the head and complaining to the referee, but the next 10-seconds are a complete blank. Adjaho said he was winning and wanted to continue. That sounds better then he was really tired and quit. Adjaho said he wants a rematch. In reality, he does not want a rematch and there will never be a rematch.

 

DeMarco was unimpressive in this win. His offense was inconsistent and sloppy. DeMarco defense was poor. He showed difficulty with the power of Adjaho who does not hit hard. DeMarco appears set to be knocked out in round 1 by the very powerful Valero. That will probably happen on a Latin Fury PPV in October.

 

Adjaho was embarrassing in this match. His conditioning was poor. Adjaho showed a limited ability to take a punch. He demonstrated very little punching power. Finally, the terrible way he got out of this match makes him unmarketable. Had Adjaho simply taken a knee and been counted out that would have been one thing. Instead he got himself counted out and then made a spectacle. The only reason Adjaho was on television was because the WBC mandated he face DeMarco. As a Don King promoted boxer, and with King running fewer shows, Adjaho's poor behavior may have made that his first and last televised match.