Exclusive Interview by James Slater – Joseph King Kong Agbeko (the King Kong is not a nickname, hence no speech marks – the name appears on Joseph’s passport) faces the lethal punching Vic Darchinyan a week on Saturday in Florida, as he makes the second defence of his IBF bantamweight crown.
Massively confident the former flyweight and super-flyweight champion has made a mistake in moving up to face him, the Accra-born 29-year-old with the fine 26-1(22) record promises a beating for the man known as “The Raging Bull”
Very kindly taking time out to speak with me earlier today, the incredibly softly-spoken 118-pound champ had the following answers to my questions..
Here is what Joseph had to say:
James Slater: Thank you for talking to me so close to the big fight, Joseph. Firstly, how did training camp go for the Vic Darchinyan fight?
Joseph Agbeko: Oh, training went fine. Very fine. I’m in better shape than ever for this fight.
J.S: And who did you spar with to get ready?
J.A: I worked with some good amateur boxers. Not big names, but very good boxers – southpaws of course.
J.S: I read about how you and Darchinyan had some strong words for each other at the press conference the other day. Is it right you said you do not think he is a big puncher?
J.A: I believe I have better skills than him and I believe I am a better puncher than him. It was just raging bullshit what he was saying. Vic has never fought anyone in my class before. He has always fought guys he knew he could beat – guys he knew he could do what he wanted to against them. But who will tell him what to do against me? Who will show him how to beat me? He said [at the press conference] that this fight will be a mismatch. It will be, with me winning over him easily.
J.S: You predict a KO win?
J.A: Yes. I will give him the worst beating of his entire career. Worse than the beating [Nonito] Donaire gave him.
J.S: I take it you’ve been watching tapes of Darchinyan in preparation, the Donaire fight in particular?
J.A: I watched a few, but that was all. Then I stopped watching him, because I only needed to see one fight of his to know how to beat him.
J.S: You are very, very confident. You don’t think this will be the toughest fight of your career at all?
J.A: (pauses) No, not really. You see, Vic is nothing special to me, not really. He has made a name for himself and become a world champion, but I don’t think he’s a special fighter. Anything he can do, I can do better and I want to prove to the world how good I am. As to my toughest fight, my fight against William Gonzalez was the hardest so far. (Joseph is adamant he was robbed in his sole career loss, against Wladimir Sidorenko. Actually, Vic Darchinyan agrees with Agbeko on this).
J.S: What will a win on July 11th mean to you?
J.A: Oh, it will be the beginning of my life as a top, high-profile boxer. I always wanted to be one of the best fighters in the world, and this is my chance to show it now. I have always said, any time I face a high-profile fighter, someone they say is the best, I perform better myself. Against the better the opponent the easier it is for me.
J.S: Not to look too far ahead, but if you beat Darchinyan, what will you do afterwards? Will you stay at bantamweight?
J.A: I will defend my title a few times – I will look to defend it against Yonny Perez first. Then I would like to fight guys like Israel Vazquez, all those guys, any one of them. Maybe I can get the chance to unify the titles.
J.S: Thank you again for taking time to speak with me, Joseph.
J.A: Okay. I want to tell the fans that this is my time now and that the world will see just how good King Kong is.