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Joseph Agbeko (26-1, 22 KO's, 116.5 pounds) (c) vs. Vic Darchinyan (32-1-1, 26 KO's, 117.5 pounds)

 

Agbeko won this title in a huge upset of Luis Perez on September 29, 2007 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. Agbeko entered the match as Perez' poorly regarded mandatory challenger. The match was carried on Showtime as a way to spotlight Perez in what was supposed to be a spectacular win. Instead Showtime got a star making performance from Agbeko. Agbeko ended up winning the match at 3:00 of round 7 when the doctor ruled Perez was unfit to continue in the corner after round 7. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/14/recap-of-joseph-agbeko-vs-luis-perez.html Agbeko is making the second defense of his title.

 

Today is a big day in Ghana. President Obama is in Ghana visiting Ghana's President John Atta Mills. This is considered a historic event. Yet, President Mills took time out of his day to call Agbeko. President Mills told the boxer that the entire country would be watching and cheering for him. (The chance of President Obama calling any boxer on a day he is hosting a foreign head of state is about zero.)

 

Agbeko's last match was an entertaining and controversial 12-round majority decision over William Gonzalez on December 11, 2008 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The match was a bloody and exciting brawl from the beginning as the boxers traded power punches and fouls. In round 1, Agbeko was hit with a ferocious low blow and Gonzalez was cut from an unintentional clash of heads. In round 4, Gonzalez was cut this time badly above his left eye from an unintentional clash of heads. Gonzalez threw a combination after the bell sounded to end round 6 that included a low blow which had Agbeko staggering back to his corner. At the start of round 9, Gonzalez had 3 different cuts on his face that had all been opened by head clashes. Shockingly, no points were deducted in this match. In the end, Agbeko won the decision by landing the harder power punches in the first half of the match and having better head movement in the second half of the match. A full recap of the match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/6/recap-of-joseph-agbeko-vs-william-gonzalez.html

 

Agbeko is The Ring's number 6 contender to their vacant championship at 118 pounds.

 

Darchinyan had a strong amateur boxing career that peaked when he represented his native Armenia in the 112-pound division at 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.

 

The challenger moved to Sydney, Australia after the Olympics and has become very popular there. Darchinyan talks a ton of trash that makes him popular to his fans and the ultimate heel. (Ironically, Darchinyan's trash talking is far more inflammatory then anything Lesnar got heat for at UFC 100.) That is partially the reason this match is being televised live on pay-per-view in Australia over UFC 100. The native Armenian had been considered the only rival of England's David Haye for the title of best trash talker in boxing. The key difference between Haye and Darchinyan is that Darchinyan backs up his words with his fists. Darchinyan has recently bragged about his streak of sending popular Mexican boxers to the hospital. One boxer, Victor Burgos, was in a coma for a few months following a match with Darchinyan on March 3, 2007. Burgos has since recovered and is going to live a relatively normal life, but these comments have made Darchinyan reviled in Southern California where he has been delivering his knockout performances. Tonight Darchinyan has promised to make Joseph King Kong Agbeko look like Tarzan's pet chimp Cheetah. The full recap of Darchinyan-Burgos can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/8/5/preview-of-vic-darchinyan-vs-dimitri-kirilov.html

 

Darchinyan's last match was a technical knockout victory at 3:00 of round 11 over Jorge Arce in the main event of the show that featured DeMarco vs. Diamond. Arce is a beloved Mexican boxer. He has appeared on Mexico's version of the reality shows Big Brother and Dancing with the Stars. Arce has adopted a cowboy gimmick, wearing a cowboy hat and sucking on a lollipop to further endear himself to his fans. Against a true babyface, Darchinyan played the part of true pro-wrestling heel. ESPN.com compared Darchinyan to the Iron Sheik before the match. Darchinyan promised to not deliver an early knockout. Instead, Darchinyan said he was going to hurt Arce early in the match. Then Darchinyan said he was going to allow Arce to recover. Finally, late in the match Darchinyan said he would knockout Arce. That way Darchinyan could inflict the maximum damage on Arce. Darchinyan then proceeded to do exactly that. The Olympian cut Arce under the right eye with a hard left hand in round 1. In round 2, some significant swelling began to form under the left eye of Arce. It too was caused by Darchinyan landing hard left hands to the Arce's face. Arce was circling the wrong way into the southpaws powerful left hand. This lead to Arce having the worst start to a match in his professional career. Then as promised, Arce rallied in rounds 3 and 4. Arce found some success landing left hooks. (Darchinyan has traditionally been very susceptible to left hooks. Nonito Donaire won The Ring's Knockout of the Year for 2007 by landing a counter left hook on Darchinyan that he patterned after the hooks thrown by the legendary Alexis Arguello.) However, at the end of round 4 Arce was cut above his left eye and there was significant swelling around both eyes. Darchinyan dominated all of the remaining rounds. Finally, the doctor stopped the match after round 11, because there were cuts and swelling around both of Arce's eyes. It was unsafe for Arce to continue and the correct call. A complete recap of the match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/7/recap-of-vic-darchinyan-vs-jorge-arce.html

 

Darchinyan is The Ring's number 1 contender to their vacant championship at 115 pounds and ranked by The Ring as the number 8 boxer in the world, pound-for-pound.

 

At 29-years old, Agbeko is 4 years younger then the 33-year-old Darchinyan. Both boxers stand 5' 5.5" tall. Agbeko has the reach advantage with a 65.5" wingspan, compared to the 64.5" wingspan of Darchinyan. There are no unofficial weights for either boxer approaching match time available. However, the IBF requires boxers to weigh-in on the day of the match within 10 pounds of the official weight limit. When the boxers were weighed in this morning, Agbeko weighed 121 pounds, while Darchinyan weighed 127.7 pounds. That means the historically smaller Darchinyan should have a huge weight advantage in the ring. Agbeko will box out of the orthodox stance and Darchinyan will box out of the southpaw stance.

 

All of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Florida. The referee is Tommy Kimmons.

 

In an interesting contrast before the match begins, Darchinyan says he is dedicating this match to Arguello. Agbeko is entering the ring with a sparkling white glove over his left glove as a tribute to Jackson.

 

Agbeko does an excellent job counter-punching to win round 1, 10-9. With a little over 2:00 to go in round 2, Darchinyan has been cut over his left eye. The cut is in a bad spot on Darchinyan's left eyelid. It could drip blood into his eye and impair his vision for the entire match. Agbeko landed some hard power punches to take a close round 2, 10-9. With 2:36 to go in round 3, Agbeko goes to the canvas, but it is correctly ruled a slip. Agbeko got his feet crossed up with Darchinyan's and that caused him to go down to the mat. This match is not featuring good technical boxing from either competitor. The action is resumed with 2:31 to go in the round. Agbeko wins round 3 in dominating fashion by landing numerous straight right hands, 10-9. With 2:03 to go in round 4, Darchinyan grabs Agbeko behind the head and pushes him to the mat. It is correctly ruled a slip and the action is resumed with 1:57 to go in round 4. However, Darchinyan has already been warned several times for grabbing behind the head and may be in danger of losing a point if he keeps committing that infraction. With 45 seconds to go in round 4, there is some swelling developing under the left eye of Darchinyan. The swelling is from repeated Agbeko right hands. Agbeko lands more straight right hands to win round 4, 10-9, and leads on my scorecard after 4 rounds, 40-36. Darchinyan is already starting to look tired and dropping his hands.

 

With a little less then 1:00 to go in round 5, there is blood coming out of the nose and mouth of Darchinyan. On the bright side, the cut above Darchinyan's left eye has not been bleeding for a few rounds. Agbeko lands hard punches with both hands to win round 5, 10-9. The champion lands more straight right hands to win round 6, 10-9, and leads on my scorecard after 6 rounds, 60-54. In round 6, Darchinyan began to look finished, mentally. Agbeko saw the same thing and made the throat slash gesture at Darchinyan after the bell to end round 6. After 6 rounds, Showtime's unofficial scorekeepers from press row have Agbeko winning the match via majority decision: 57-57, 59-56, 58-56.

 

Several seconds after round 7 should have ended according to Showtime's on-screen clock, a cupping right hook from Darchinyan pulls Agbeko to the ground. The referee is going to rule that a knockdown, which is a bad call. Agbeko went down because Darchinyan finished off the punch by pulling down on the back of the head of an off balance Agbeko's head. The crowd is booing, because they did not think this was a knockdown and Darchinyan did not even seem to think this was a knockdown. Agbeko is rightfully outraged at this call as he receives the 8-count. After administering the count and ruling the unhurt Agbeko fit to continue, the referee turned to the timekeeper and asked if the round was over. The referee has been around long enough to know what 3 minutes feels like and this is way past 3 minutes. The timekeeper said no and the action is going to resume. The timekeeper rang the bell to end the round after 4 minutes. Even if the knockdown call was correct, Agbeko went down after 3 minutes had passed. The knockdown ruling means Darchinyan wins round 7, 10-8. Agbeko was going to easily win round 7, therefore some judges may only score it for Darchinyan, 10-9. Round 7 is why Florida is not well regarded in boxing circles. With 23 seconds to go in round 8, Agbeko takes a right hook low. Timeout is called with 18 seconds to go in the round for the champion to recover. The action is paused for less then 1 minute before Agbeko is ready to resume boxing. The boxers trade punches well after the bell to end round 8. Agbeko wins round 8, 10-9. Round 9 is Darchinyan's best round of the match and he wins it, 10-9, but after 9 rounds Agbeko leads on my scorecard, 87-83. After 9 rounds the unofficial press row scoring has Agbeko winning by majority decision: 86-85, 86-85, 85-85.

 

With around 1:45 to go in round 10, blood begins to stream from above the right eye of Darchinyan. With that much blood flowing it is doubtful Darchinyan has any vision out of his right eye. The referee is ruling that the cut was caused by an unintentional clash of heads, which would send the match to the scorecards if it had to be stopped prematurely. With 1:29 to go still in round 10, Darchinyan grabs a side headlock and throws Agbeko down to the mat while at the same time landing a punch on the trapped boxer. The referee correctly rules it a slip and restarts the action with 1:17 to go in the round. It appeared Darchinyan was boxing almost completely blind for the latter half of round 10. The swelling around Darchinyan's left eye appears to be significantly limiting his site out of that eye, whether the cut above that eye is bleeding or not. Darchinyan's inability to see allows Agbeko to win round 10, 10-9. The doctor should seriously think about stopping this match in the corner. The doctor examines Darchinyan after round 10 and is going to allow the match to continue. Out of frustration Darchinyan pushes Agbeko backwards to the mat with 2:24 to go in round 11. The referee correctly rules it a slip and admonishes Darchinyan. The action resumes with 2:14 to go in the round. Agbeko wins a sloppy round 11, 10-9. With 59 seconds to go in round 12, Agbeko falls to the canvas as Darchinyan shrugs the champion off in an attempted clinch. The referee correctly rules it a slip and restarts the action with 56 seconds to go in the match. Agbeko landed more straight right hands to win round 12, 10-9, and the match on my scorecard, 117-110.

 

Before the decision is read Agbeko is shown celebrating in the ring, and going to hug his promoter, King. King greets Agbeko by telling him that this was "a crooked referee" and the "worst I have ever seen". Tonight King has been great. King has been promoting boxing for over 40 years and that last statement is impossible. Kimmons is not great, but not nearly the worst referee on this telecast. There is a reason only 1 promoter in history has been immortalized on The Simpsons, and it is hyperbole like that (and great hair).

 

The official decision courtesy of the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored the match: 116-111, 114-113, 114-113, all for the winner by unanimous decision and still IBF Bantamweight Champion of the World, Joseph King Kong Agbeko. The win moves Agbeko to 27-1 with 22 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

Agbeko said nothing of note in his post-match interview.

 

Darchinyan was uncharacteristically humble in his post-match interview. He said that he did not follow the game plan and was not careful of head clashes. He paid for those mistakes in the ring and it allowed the judges to score the match for Agbeko. Darchinyan admitted he lost his composure in the ring and boxed a bad match. However, Darchinyan did finish in character by saying that Agbeko is not better then him, just better today.

 

Agbeko was very good in this. His offense looked sloppy for most of the match. However, that can be largely attributed to Darchinyan's unorthodox style. Agbeko's defense was outstanding in this match. His ability to dodge punches was at a completely different level then in his last match. Following this win, The Ring elevated Agbeko 2 spots in their rankings to make him the number 4 contender at 118 pounds. The most obvious next match for Agbeko is to try and get a rematch with Wladimir Sidorenko to avenge his only loss. Sidorenko is ranked directly ahead of Agbeko in The Ring's 118 pound rankings. However, Agbeko may have to go to Germany to face Sidorenko where many people felt Agbeko was robbed of the decision in the first match.

 

Darchinyan does not belong at 118 pounds. He is a boxer that relies on his overwhelming power to win matches. At 118 pounds, Darchinyan does not have overwhelming power. Darchinyan was mentally taken out of this match early for a variety of reasons, among them was probably his inability to hurt Agbeko. The Olympian did not throw combinations and as he said completely abandoned his game-plan. Darchinyan has to decide on making a mandatory defense of one of his 115-pound titles in the next few days. He will probably take the mandatory defense and re-evaluate his career after that. Following this loss, Darchinyan was dropped out of The Ring's pound-for-pound rankings. (This has allowed Paul Williams, who frankly should have been on the list a long time ago, to enter the rankings at number 10.)

 

 

 

This match was very sloppy. This event an easy skip.