Antonio DeMarco vs. Anges Adjaho: Round By Round

Before the action gets started tonight on Showtime Championship Boxing, I'd like to say R.I.P. to Arturo "Thunder" Gatti, found dead this morning on his second honeymoon.

Now to Florida, where the main event will feature Vic Darchinyan moving up in weight to take on IBF bantamweight titleholder Joseph Agbeko. That should be a good one.

Gus Johnson and Al Bernstein are on hand to discuss the main event. First up, though, is a lightweight title eliminator between Antonio DeMarco and Anges Adjaho. The winner of this one will take on Edwin Valero for his WBC belt.

The tale of the tape shows both men the same height and roughly equal in other areas. Adjaho is almost a decade older at 32 years to DeMarco's 23.

Adjaho is 25-1 with 14 KOs, and his most recent win against Fernando Angulo was probably his most impressive. DeMarco is 21-1 with 15 KOs.

Jimmy Lennon Jr. handles the introductions and we are ready for a scheduled 12 rounds of boxing.

Round 1

The announcers discuss how Adjaho is somewhat of an unknown quantity. DeMarco gets to him early with some jabs. The crowd gets a little restless right away due to a lack of action. Adjaho reaches with a few short punches. No one really doing anything in the middle of the round. Adjaho gets in with a quick three-punch flurry; DeMarco lands a straight left in response. Anges ducks out of the way for a second. A straight left buckles Adjaho right before the bell, and he looked a little wobbly.

Franchise: 10-9 DeMarco

Round 2

DeMarco shows quick hands as he bides his time. Adjaho lands a nice shot coming in. He sneaks in another right hand as a counter. Another nice right as he reaches. DeMarco just misses with a left. Bernstein thinks Antonio may be having trouble with Adjaho's height and reach. Adjaho jabs repeatedly. Left-hand counter as DeMarco tries to come in. Left to the body late by DeMarco.

Franchise: 10-9 Adjaho

Round 3

Johnson mentions that DeMarco often starts slow, and he eats a right from Adjaho. They start to exchange and Anges lands more punches. The range is closer now. Straight left upstairs by DeMarco, who responds with more stiff jabs. Adjaho just glances a big right hand as they both throw simultaneously. Right to the body by Adjaho. DeMarco still can't figure out a way to get off consistently.

Franchise: 10-9 Adjaho

Round 4

Adjaho lands a few counter hooks in close. His jab is scoring with great consistency. More jabs keep DeMarco at bay. Now Adjaho gets a bit careless and DeMarco lands two left hands. Another left hands and Adjaho has to cover up along the ropes. They clash heads and slap gloves afterwards. Left to the body by DeMarco, then an uppercut. One final left punctuates a much sharper round for DeMarco.

Franchise: 10-9 DeMarco

Round 5

Nothing of importance lands in the first 30 seconds. DeMarco glances a right hook off Adjaho's head. Adjaho keeps lunging with right hands and is just missing. DeMarco backs up his foe and clobbers him with right hooks in the corner. Adjaho gets things back out into the center and scores with his own right hooks. Straight right by Adjaho. Quick one-two and another right by Adjaho. Interesting and close round.

Franchise: 10-9 Adjaho

Round 6

Adjaho's corner is giving him great advice, telling him to keep the action in the middle of the ring. Cautious start to this round. Counter left by Adjaho. Two-punch combo upstairs as well. Adjaho ties up as DeMarco comes bounding in. Double right hand by Adjaho, and they trade shots inside. DeMarco lands a mean left and misses some wild rights. DeMarco connects with another big left and pours it on as Adjaho looks stunned. DeMarco stumbles to the mat as he tries to get to Adjaho.

Franchise: 10-9 DeMarco

Round 7

Adjaho has to watch out for counter lefts. Now he whips out some counters with both hands. DeMarco comes forward and Adjaho has to tie up. Straight left by DeMarco. He stalks but can't unload. Adjaho fighting very defensively as he scores with a left hook. Two lefts by DeMarco in the closing seconds.

Franchise: 10-9 DeMarco

Round 8

Both men jabbing, but a firefight quickly breaks out. Adjaho gets the better of it with jabs and straight rights. DeMarco looked hurt but he fights his way out with straight lefts. Great action for about 20 seconds there. Adjaho looks a little wobbly again. Left to the body by DeMarco. Adjaho gets his legs back and returns to his jab. Big left by DeMarco answered by a right uppercut by Adjaho. They stumble out of the corner as the round closes.

Franchise: 10-9 DeMarco

Round 9

We'll see what happens as both men were in trouble last round. Press row disagrees with me as the scoring is all in favor of Adjaho. Both men reaching. Nice right hook by DeMarco in the corner. Adjaho shoves Antonio off as he comes in again. Adjaho triples the jab and eats return fire. Adjaho snaps off the right and more jabs. Double right by Adjaho. DeMarco hurts him and Adjaho takes a knee. He won't answer the count and the ref says it's over. Adjaho protests a bit but I'm not sure why as it looked like Adjaho voluntarily went to the mat.

Replay showed a left hand hurt Adjaho along the ropes and he went down to the mat on purpose. It looked like a right may have hit him while he was down, and maybe Adjaho thought he was going to get help from the referee.

The winner by KO at 2:59 of Round 9, Antonio DeMarco.

Showtime does ask the ref about the end of the fight. He says Adjaho got hurt by a legal punch and went down on his own, and he did not think Adjaho's knee was on the ground when the right from DeMarco grazed his head. A replay is shown and the ref looks like he made the right call.

Posted by The Franchise