Agbeko wins decision over Darchinyan, retains bantamweight belt
Joseph Agbeko retained his International Boxing
Federation bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Vic Darchinyan on
Saturday night.
Using solid rights to the head, which eventually opened
cuts above both of Darchinyan's eyes, Agbeko spoiled Darchinyan's goal of
winning his third world title in a different division.
Two judges scored the bout 114-113 for Agbeko, while the
third had it for the native of Ghana, 116-111.
The bout had one disputed knockdown in the seventh round,
when television replays showed Darchinyan pushed Agbeko to the canvas. But
referee Tommy Kimmons ruled it a scoring punch for Darchinyan.
Agbeko (27-1) shook off the knockdown and peppered
Darchinyan with repeated rights to the head the rest of the fight.
Darchinyan, a native of Armenia now living in Australia,
did his best work in the middle rounds, when he scored with left hooks to the
head. A former flyweight and junior-bantamweight titleholder, Darchinyan is now
32-2-1.
The victory was Agbeko's second as bantamweight champion.
He won the 118-pound crown with a seventh-round technical knockout over Luis
Perez in 2007 and beat William Gonzalez on Dec. 11 in his first defense
Agbeko weighed 116 pounds for Saturday's bout, one less
than Darchinyan.
The whole card was filled with crazy shit. I've seen 4 minute rounds before, but you'd think that in the 21st century a Showtime card would be a little more professional. Was Ted Mach promoting this one??? I bet Homer is the only one that gets the Ted Mach reference.
Vic was outworked and did not have an answer for Agbeko. I would have liked to seen Vic train for Agbeko's style before he fought him cuz it was evident that he didnt. It would have been a better fight.
Cuba's Yoan Pablo Hernandez, right, boxes his challenger Steve Cunningham from the US in an IBF cruiser weight world title fight in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012. Hernandez defended his title with a unanimous decision.
