Yonnhy Perez, 20-0, 14 KO’s, won the IBF Bantamweight Title, in a complete war, over Joseph Agbeko, 27-2, 22 KO’s, by scores of 116-111 and 117-110 (twice). From the opening bell, the two never stopped throwing and rocking each other, but they both proved to have iron chins, never going down…from a punch. Agbeko did go to the floor after a head butt smashed him directly in the face. It was called a knockdown, but in the end it didn’t affect the fight. Perez was leading by enough points without the knockdown to secure the victory and win the championship.
The height and work rate of Perez was enough to take the lead and keep it and his chin held up against some big shots from Agbeko. Perez wanted the title badly and got it in a contender for fight of the year 2009. It was a great fight.
In the supporting bout on Showtime, Antonio DeMarco, 23-1-1, 17 KO’s, captured the WBC Interim Lightweight Championship with a dominant performance against Jose Alfaro, 23-5, 20 KO’s, stopping him in the tenth round. DeMarco used his height and reach to beat the much smaller Alfaro from the opening round. Alfaro could never get closer to the much taller DeMarco and didn’t have the ability to cut off the ring or corner him. As the rounds passed, it became more and more obvious just what the conclusion would be. Alfaro didn’t have a chance and took a vicious beating, being dropped twice in the tenth round and taking a knee at the end of the round, forcing the referee to call it. Now DeMarco will move on to possibly face the underground legend, Edwin Valero.
On the untelevised undercard, in a WBC Heavyweight Title eliminator, Ray Austin, 28-4-4, 18 KO’s, survived some initial rocky moments from DaVarryl Williamson, 26-6, 22 KO’s, to stop the “Touch of Sleep” in the fourth round. A right uppercut sent Williamson to the floor and when he arose, he was not in any shape to continue and it was waved off. Austin has made a career of drawing with notable opposition like Sultan Ibragimov, Larry Donald, and Mount Whitaker, but was totally blown away in his only title opportunity against Wladimir Klitschko in 2007. Since then he has put together four wins, including the one over Williamson and another stoppage over Andrew Golota. He now is set to fight the winner of the Vitali Klitschko – Kevin Johnson WBC Title fight.
How Austin is ranked above Alexander Povetkin is beyond me, but then again, the WBC has always had issues with ranking. Austin got by Williamson but will have little to no chance against the winner of Klitschko – Johnson. It would be nice to see Austin get a win over a heavyweight that hasn’t lost the majority of their recent fights or well beyond their better fighting years before they put him in there for another title shot.
