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Darchinyan-conqueror Agbeko loses to Perez, a match Donaire would have won
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Three months after beating Vic Darchinyan, Joseph Agbeko lost his IBF bantamweight title Saturday on Showtime as Yonnhy Perez won a unanimous decision after 12 rounds of mostly toe-to-toe action in Las Vegas.
The scorecards – 117-110, 117-110, 116-111 didn’t reflect the parity that marked the fight, which I scored a draw, but they did reflect Agbeko’s failure to defend himself.
Perez (20-0) used his reach advantage and a sharp left hook to outscore Agbeko in the second, third, fourth and sixth rounds, but I thought Agbeko then regained control of the fight in the seventh and maintained it well into the 10th.
It was then that Agbeko (27-2) turned away after a clash of heads, which referee Robert Byrd apparently missed, and soon went to one knee. That meant a round he would have won probably was scored 10-8 against him.
I thought it should have been scored 10-9 for Perez, or even 9-9. Do judges have no discretion scoring a round in which a knockdown occurs?
Agbeko regained control in the 11th, but Perez did enough to win the 12th, and it certainly was no travesty that the Colombian was awarded the title and would have won no matter how the 10th was handled.
Agbeko’s loss may not reflect well on Nonito Donaire, the other man who has beaten Darchinyan, but it certainly doesn’t mean Donaire would meet a similar fate against Perez. Agbeko failed to vary his attack, failed to move laterally as much as Perez did, and, again, failed to defend himself. Donaire would make none of those mistakes.
CARINA MORENO LOSES: Watsonville’s Carina Moreno (21-2) was outpointed by Anabel Ortiz (4-1) in a 10-rounder in Toluca, Mexico. All three judges scored the minimumweight (105 pounds) bout 96-94.
