Guillermo “El Chacal” Rigondeaux (13-0, 8 KOs) scored a one sided unanimous decision over former Champion Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko (29-5, 22 KOs) winning on all cards with scores of 120-108.
Rigondeaux, who considers himself a master boxer, employed his superior defensive skills to limit the African fighter to only 349 punches thrown throughout the 12 round Championship fight according to CompuBox. The final statistics revealed that Rigondeaux connected over 40% of his power punches, with Agbeko landing just 15%. Agbeko is known as a pressure fighter who throws a lot of punches but in this fight he seemed a bit confused and couldn’t figure out Rigondeaux’s style. Agbeko fought a very tentative fight possibly due to the fact that Rigondeaux is a great counterpuncher.
Although Rigondeaux’s win against Agbeko was one sided, it wasn’t as exciting as some fans anticipated. Some present in the arena were displeased with the defensive style used by the Cuban and left the site before the fight ended.
The much anticipated match between Jr middleweight James “Mandingo Warrior” Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) and Glen “Jersey Boy” Tapia (20-1, 12 KOs) lived up the pre-fight hype and turned into an all out war, at least in the first three rounds. Both men traded punches from the first second of round one, but it was Kirkalnd who got the best of Tapia scoring a sixth round TKO over the previously unbeaten fighter. The unbeaten Tapia got the best of Kirkland in round one, he moved well and fought smart, winning the round in the official scorecards.
Tapia did his best work when fighting in the middle of the ring, but beginning in round 2, Kirkland applied more pressure and managed to trap Tapia on the ropes tagging him with hellacious uppercuts. From round 3 and on it was clear that Tapia was wearing down although he fought back bravely. In round 6 Kirkland sensing that the end was near, applied more pressure and managed to trap Tapia against the ropes, battering the young fighter’s face and body until referee Smoger mercifully jumped in to save Tapia from further punishment.
The fight ended shortly after the beginning of the first round. At the post fight interview Kirkland had this to say:
“I feel like a million bucks, it was a rough and down fight,” Said Kirkland. “I told everyone it would be this way, one punch can change the fight. He hit me with some good shots I had to go through such hell in this training camp with Ann (Wolfe). I came in with a game plan and stuck with it. I had to be a warrior, we are a team.” When asked who he wants to fight next, “I will fight anybody”
Former middleweight title challenger “Mack the Knife” Matthew Macklin (30-5, 20 KOs) scoring a ten round unanimous decision over Lamar Russ (11-1, 5 KOs) in a very tough fight. Scores were 96-94, 98-92, 97-93.
Undercard Results:
Super middleweight Matt Korobov (22-0, 13 KOs) scored a ninth round TKO over Derek Edwards (26-3-1, 13 KOs). The Russian was hurt early in the fight but recovered and came back to stop the very game Ewards.
Lightweight Toka Kahn Clary (9-0, 6 KOs) suffered two fourth round knockdowns but came back to outpoint Ramsey Luna (11-1, 5 KOs) over six rounds. Scores were 57-55 on all three cards.
Unbeaten super middleweight Jesse Hart (11-0, 10 KOs) stopped Tyrell Hendrix (10-3-2, 3 KOs) in the first round.
In a four round Jr. welterweight bout, Julian Rodriguez (2-0, 1 KO) defeated Ryan Picou (0-2) winning on all cards by 40-36 scores.
In his pro debut, 2012 Olympian cruiserweight Egor Mekhontsev demolished Peter Cajagas (0-3-1) in round three. The Russian was an impressive body puncher and wore down Cajagas on way to the stoppage.
