Jaime Castro-Núñez at Ringside. Las Vegas, NV. Last night at the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino Colombian puncher Yonnhy Pérez claimed the International Boxing Federation bantamweight title by upsetting Joseph Agbeko of Ghana. And while most boxing experts, fans, commentators and the champion himself thought Pérez would be a “piece of cake,” to me it was clear the man from South America would become a world champion on Halloween.
Analysis and Prediction
Joseph Agbeko became the IBF champion in 2007 by defeating Luis Pérez in Sacramento, CA. Fifteen months later he defended the belt against William Gonzalez and recently outboxed hard-hitting Vic Darchinyan. That victory elevated his self-steem and made him think he can outwork anyone. Yonnhy Pérez analyzed the situation this way: “King Kong thinks he can measure himself by his victory over Vic Darchinyan, who only tried to knock him out from the first bell and came up in weight to face him.” The fact he defeated a smaller guy doesn’t mean Agbeko can’t be credited for what he has.. After all, the Ghanaian is the champion, something that is not easy to accomplish even these days when there are more boxing organizations than boxers. He is fast, offensive, has a lot of heart and hits hard. That shows he can be victorious tonight and it is a probability as long as he steps up in the ring and throws clean punches. When two guys fight it does not matter who is the top dog or what we writers put on paper.
The challenger, Yonnhy Pérez, 30, came in 2004 all the way from his native Colombia to busy Southern California and since then, under the training of Daniel Zamora, has knocked out fourteen of his nineteen opponents (73.68 KO%). His most recent victory was a 12-round stoppage over highly regarded Silence Mabuza, an opponent who, just like King Kong, had promised to destroy Pérez. There are not many Pérez’s videos out there, but I have seen this kid in action many times and I can tell he is fast, very technical, can move forward or backward, put pressure or relax, has a lot of stamina and power in both hands.
Prediction
I believe Joseph Agbeko is a good pugil, but Yonnhy Pérez is just better. Agbeko will put all his heart and will to take the belt back home. In the process he can land some clean punches and eventually do some damage to the challenger. However, what is clear to me (you may disagree) is that Yonnhy has more and better weapons to take the IBF bantamweight title to the “Heroic” city of Cartagena. ESB readers know I’m not a huge fan of predictions and I am not going to give an ambiguous one here. Mine is straight forward: Yonnhy Pérez by knockout before the sixth! If Yonnhy Pérez doesn’t knock Agbeko out around the middle of the bout I will be very surprised… and upset!
Outcome
Joseph Agbeko had predicted a knockout victory, so he went for it since the first round, but got caught by the huge amount of punches and constant pressure Pérez put on him. At the very end of that round the challenger was able to connect clean punches that backed up the champion. Rounds two to six witnessed a lot of exchange, with Pérez getting the best part of them. While Agbeko seemed frustrated with his inability to keep his knockout promise, Pérez looked very comfortable in the fight, sometimes attacking, sometimes moving forward and rarely back-pedaling. Agbeko´s best episodes were seventh, eighth and ninth, but in the tenth he was floored in a situation that is open to interpretation. There were many accidental head butts, but only two are worth to mention. In the middle of the fight Pérez suffered two vertical cuts from his eyebrows to the forehead. The other class of heads took place in the tenth stanza. Clearly believing that the referee Robert Byrd would call for a break, Agbeko turned away, left himself unprotected and Pérez followed him with nice body shots that sent the champ to the canvas. The last two rounds were very intense and at that point Agbeko was desperately looking for a lucky punch that would knock Pérez out. It didn´t occur. Scores were 117-110, 117-110, 116-111.
So, what´s next for Yonnhy Pérez?
I was huge on the idea that Yonnhy Pérez would dispatch Joseph Agbeko in the middle of the fight. It didn´t happen that way, but the new champion proved to be a better boxer, as I always have thought. Yonnhy Pérez, who hasn´t seen his family down in Colombia since the beginning of this year, will be landing in Cartagena on Tuesday, Nov., 2 around 4:00 PM, where he will be received with honors. So, what´s next for the champ? A well-deserved vacation surrounded by family and friends.