Fight Night on Versus comes to us tonight from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Kicking things off is Joseph Agbeko defending his IBF bantamweight title against William Gonzalez.
The announcers say that Agbeko is talented but you're never quite sure what you will get out of him. Gonzalez is the IBF's mandatory challenger; he's 21-2 and comes in on a 5-bout winning streak since losing to Jhonny Gonzalez three years ago.
The fighters are almost the same age. Gonzalez has a slight height advantage and a five-inch reach advantage. He's also a southpaw.
Since both fighters are coming in off of fairly long periods of inactivity, there's a question of ring rust. But they seem more than willing to stand and trade in the first round. Agbeko is landing some stinging right hands while Gonzalez is countering well to the head and body. With 45 seconds left, Gonzalez lands and obvious low blow and Agbeko is given time to recover.
The pace stays high through the second and third rounds. Gonzalez is landing more punches but Agbeko's shots look more powerful and the announcers think he's just stronger overall. Neither fighter is jabbing much; they're standing in front of each other for the most part and throwing bombs.
The fourth round sees Gonzalez start to bleed heavily from a cut above his left eye that the referee ruled was caused by a headbutt in an earlier round. He looks like he is starting to wither a bit under Agbeko's constant stream of straight rights and left hooks.
As we head through the sixth round, Gonzalez is starting to try to box a little bit more, but Agbeko is relentless. They're continuing to butt heads often. Gonzalez lands another low shot right at or perhaps slightly after the bell that looks painful.
Gonzalez's eye holds up through eight rounds. He's definitely still competitive, though he probably lost rounds four through six. The fight could be there to be won by either man coming down the stretch.
A minute into the ninth round, Gonzalez lands a nice straight shot set up by a jab that gets Agebko's attention. The champ just keeps coming forward though.
Unofficial scoring by the announcers and viewers at home has Agbeko up 87-84. The last minute of the tenth round is a good one for Gonzalez, and the champ looks like something is bothering him as heads to his corner.
One round to go and it could be close coming down the stretch. Agbeko looks like he has a bit more spring in his step but both guys are going to battle all the way until the end. The champ is able to jump in and score with some nice straight shots. He should win the last round, and we'll look to the judges for a decision.
The scores are 114-114, and 116-112 twice for Agbeko, and he retains his title by majority decision.
That was a good scrap. Neither man showed an abundance of technique, but they were evenly matched and showed plenty of heart.
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