The Showtime Bantamweight tournament now has it’s two finalists.
Joseph King Kong Agbeko and Abner Mares emerged as winners and will now face each other in the tournament finals. The former IBF champion, Joseph Agbeko won the rubber match between him and Yhonny Perez to reclaim his title on all judges scorecards. Being considered the underdog coming into the bout Agbeko (28-2, 22 KOs) surprised Perez (20-1-1, 14 KOs) with an excitingly effective strategy throughout the fight. Displaying excellent defense and choosing his shots wisely, Agbeko dictated the fight’s direction through the early rounds with hard right hands and quick combination’s. By the fifth round, the defending champion Perez had a cut over his left eye and began to fight with a sense of urgency.
Perez, managed to get some momentum in his favor as the match turned into a brawl as the punches began to fly at a pace much closer to Perez’ normal work rate. The men ditched defense for offense for the full three minutes and were rewarded by a standing ovation at round’s end. By the seventh, Agbeko regained his composure and continued with his game plan through most of the bout’s final six rounds. Judges scored the fight a unanimous decision for Agbeko with scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 117-111 to hand Perez his first career loss.
“This is my meal ticket and I’m glad I got it back (IBF title). I am presenting it to Ghana as a Christmas bonus,” Said Agbeko. When asked about the upcoming tournament final with Abner Mares, he said, “I’ve watched Abner Mares. He is a very smart kid. King Kong is always King Kong. I’m going to get the crown from him.”
Up and coming star Abner Mares won a gritty split decision over veteran Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan in a fight that saw both Darchinyan land extremely hard shots. Mares suffered a second round knockdown by a Darchinyan left hand as well as a cut along his hairline that resulted in 15 stitches. A sense of urgency might of filled Mares who advanced aggressively and was deducted a point in the fourth round for low blows.
Mares would rally on as in the the sixth round he came out punching in combinations and landing big right hand shots. By the seventh round, Mares knocked down an off-balance Darchinyan with a glancing blow and felt the tide was beginning to turn.
“Our plan was to push him back because we know he likes to bully people. He has a tremendous punch. I proved that I could take punches,” said Mares.
Although known for his power, Darchinyan surprised many with a display of untapped boxing skills by using the ring and counterpunching for most of the fight before reverting back to hunting for a big left punch as his energy faded. By the fight’s final rounds, Darchinyan looked tired and attempted to hold on to Mares – and his points lead – to no avail. The well-conditioned Mares continued to stalk Darchinyan as the fight’s aggressor and eventually did enough to win an exciting split decision with scores of 115-111 and 113-112 for Mares and 115-111 for Darchinyan.
The close fight and split decision loss did not leave Darchinyan pleased. “It’s very disgusting, very bad ref. I think, of course, I won. He didn’t let me do what I wanted to do,” said Darchinyan before conceding about Mares, “He is a tough kid.”
