Abner Mares Vs Joseph Agbeko Countdown Thread...........

It was not on a canvas — the fighter from Ghana known as

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has been knocked down once, never knocked out in the ring — but on the pavement outside

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, King Kong was in excruciating pain and was hospitalized.

"I was very scared," Agbeko said by phone Wednesday. "My main concern was disappointing everybody because I knew I couldn't fight. I didn't want to let everyone down."

He knew that night that his bantamweight tournament championship fight the following Saturday against undefeated Abner Mares was not going to happen.

It was confirmed the next day when he was diagnosed with sciatica, an injury to the sciatic nerve in the back that can happen after long airplane flights. Agbeko had just arrived at LAX from

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after six hours on the plane.

Mares, 24, was disappointed but felt bad for his opponent. "My parents always taught me not to feel sorry for the guy on the boxing side," he said during a conference call with news reporters this week, "but I generally felt bad on the human side. (Agbeko) just looked like an old guy limping with the cane. I thought, 'Man this could be the end of his career' … plus I have family members who have had the same injury and they told me it was really painful."

Agbeko's doctor told him he would need six weeks to recover from the injury. He did it in four. "I'm back now, perfect, and I'm confident," Agbeko said.

Back, too, is the fight. Agbeko (28-2, 22 KOs), the

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bantamweight champion, will finally meet Mares (21-0-1, 13 KOs) in the finals of the 118-pound tournament Aug. 13 (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET) at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.

Agbeko says there is no blessing in disguise with having the fight postponed nearly four months. Nothing in his game needed extra work. He was ready then and he's ready now. "The fight could have happened the first time, or it happens now," he said. "Either way, I'll still be the winner."
The African-born fighter, now residing in the Bronx, N.Y., returned to his birthplace of Accra, Ghana, to spend a few restful weeks during his recuperation. "Everybody there was disappointed and they felt sorry for me because they really wanted to watch my fight," Agbeko said.

If anything might affect Agbeko this time, it would be ring rust. He has fought three times in the last two years and once since losing his IBF title to unbeaten Yonnhy Perez on Halloween night 2009 in a unanimous decision. Nearly 14 months later in the rematch, the opening bout of this tournament, Agbeko handed Perez the first loss of his career. The difference, Agbeko says, was "in the first fight I didn't have a lot of time to prepare. That fight did not go well due to a few issues."

Now, Agbeko hopes to settle the issue of who is the best bantamweight. "The best right now (are) me, Abner Mares,

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and Yonnhy Perez," Agbeko said. "And Abner and I have gotten to the finals. Whoever wins is the best bantamweight, no doubt about it."

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, a bantamweight and one of the world's top pound-for-pound fighters, might have some doubt. Agbeko says he'd love to fight Donaire if he handles Mares.

"I'd like to fight him because he's one of the best, but I call him a coward because he was scared to join this tournament," Agbeko said. "I would only fight him because I want to take the titles (

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and WBO) he's holding. I want him so badly. No homo"

 

Some stuff(mostly Mares) from the Golden Boy conference call:

Abner Mares

Joseph Agbeko

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GONVP2jZww[/ame]

 

JOSEPH KING KONG AGBEKO:

“I would like to thank SHOWTIME for the new date which is Aug. 13 due to my injury. I thank my promoters too at Don King Productions for waiting for me to heal and to get ready for this fight. I’m so looking forward to this fight and thanks to God for it is finally coming off and I’m ready for it.

“This is a very big fight. Everyone is watching and people will know after you win this fight that you are the best in the world. That’s what I strive to achieve in my career: to be the best in the world at this weight class and then move on to the next one.”
What was the difference in the first time you fought Yonnhy Perez and the second?

“Well, in the first fight I don’t think I had a lot of time to prepare for the fight. I came into the ring slow and started out that way. That first fight just did not go well for me due to a few issues. So I came back and was able to do better the next fight.”
Did you fear after suffering your sciatic injury that your career might be finished?

“When I had the injury the only thing that I was worried about was the fight that I had coming up. I knew definitely that it wouldn’t affect my career. My main concern was disappointing every one because I knew I couldn’t fight. I knew everyone was counting on me. All my fans and family in Ghana were depending on me. I didn’t want to let anyone down.”
Was there ever any indication on why you had the sciatic injury you suffered?

“Yeah, they said it could really happen to anyone because of the time that the flight was delayed at the airport and the time I spent not moving on the plane for the six hours from New York to L.A. It doesn’t happen every day but the people at the hospital knew because they are so close to the airport. It does happen to people sitting on a plan for a long time.”
Did it affect your preparation for this fight?

“Yes, I think since I had to start all over again. I took some time off but then I was able to come back and I’ve been working on my speed and everything else for this fight.

“I’ve been on conference calls for SHOWTIME before and this is definitely the most relaxed one because I wasn’t asked a lot of questions. So I was very relaxed because I didn’t have to answer a lot of questions. This fight has been very hyped and I’m hoping to come out the winner on Aug. 13.”

 

Can't wait for this one! I have Mares in a close UD. Agbeko is going to be on his bike looking for some space to box, and Mares is going to be moving forward trying to get inside.

Winner vs. Donaire!

 

Classy from Mares:

Mares remarked he at first thought this(injury) would be the end of Agbeko’s career but since he has recovered, he is very happy for him.

While speaking on his inclusion, he said, “I just felt bad. He just looked like an old guy limping with the cane. I thought, man, this could be the end of his career. It was like me with my detached retina and when they told me my career could possibly be over.”

Mares added, “Plus, I have some family members who have had the same injury and they told me it was really painful so I just felt bad for Agbeko. That’s why we gave him a second chance and we thank God he’s better and that he can continue what he loves doing and that’s boxing.”

 

Oh, and by the way LP, I actually am a massive Mares fan, I'm just a massiver Agbeko fan.

I've been paying close attention to Mares since like his 13th, 14th fight, something like that, and I've always preached that he'd be the next best Mexican fighter(which I may still ascertain, even though I do think King Kong will be victorious). It's just that I think he's had too many changes in trainer, and it's noticeably screwed up his stance a little bit. When he positions himself like a boxer, he begins to brawl, when he positions himself in brawling-mode, he begins to box. It's just a bit of a dodgy formula that I think Agbeko can explot.

I won't be all that disappointed if Abner wins though, as I say, I do genuinely like the guy and hope he's the future ruler of the division.

 

You got your glove yet, LP? :think

 

I’ve been giving this fight a lot of thought with Mares being my favourite fighter after Hopkins and I genuinely find it hard to see a way of Agbeko beating him. Unfortunately, I missed the 2nd Perez fight so I can’t use that when forming an opinion on this fight but I’d seen plenty of his other fights and think if Mares uses his brains, he should be more than ok in this one.

Looking at their mutual opponents in Perez & Darchinyan is useful in this one I feel cos it gives an indication on how other top level bantamweights can capitalise on their respective weaknesses and how they should/shouldn’t go about this one. Agbeko has to try and fight in a similar way to how he did vs Vic I believe because for the majority of that fight, it was a master class in how to expose the crudeness of Darchinyan. Agbeko’s positioning was faultless; it gave him enough room to be able to spring forward and connect with that sneaky lead right but kept Vic at bay enough to make most of his big lefts fall short. He also dominated the inside which shocked me but I feel this was more down to Darchinyan getting frustrated at not being able to fight how he wanted to and getting wilder and wilder. It was a really smart performance from Agbeko.

My worry from Mares’ point of view is that if he fights the way he did vs Darchinyan, Agbeko will be able to pick him off as effectively as he did with Vic. That scenario is even worse for Abner as he doesn’t have anywhere near the sufficient power to hurt Agbeko and change the pattern of the fight. Mares showed great will and strength to get through it but he neglected his jab so badly that he was getting beat to the punch constantly and had to rely on answering back with his excellent combination punching to grind out a close decision. Agbeko’s smarter than Vic on the inside though and I don’t think he would get the chance to fire back in the same way if this were to happen next week.

However saying that, I think Mares will be more wary with Agbeko and I’m hoping he sticks to a strategy of keeping on the outside, moving to his right and snapping out the jab. Even Sidorenko had success with using lateral movement and jabbing off the back foot in the 2nd half of his fight with Agbeko which I would have thought was impossible for him but its been shown to be useful. Mares’ jab is usually better used defensively than offensively (apart from when he follows it with the right hand) and it may be key in this fight in offsetting Agbeko’s head movement. This is often what dissuades fighters from fighting on the outside vs Agbeko but his vulnerability to straight shots through the middle at distance was shown up vs Gonzalez, someone not particularly comfortable when on the outside. This 6th round of Mares/Perez is a blueprint of what Mares should be doing vs Agbeko right from the beginning IMO.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_WKmrOjXtU[/ame]

This could be vital as it’s likely to make Agbeko fall in when throwing punches from too far out and gettting Agbeko lunging in will make the fight his I feel. The right hand is really the only shot he throws well from distance. His left hook is very wide and is open to a counter straight right or right hook from Mares, both of which he throws nice and accurately. Even if he does connect with the left, he’s reaching so much with the punch that it is not particularly powerful and doesn’t set anything else up well either.

Agebko’s habit of falling in after punches is a real problem for him in my mind and whilst Perez (in the 1st fight) and Gonzalez did punish it to a degree, Mares should be a lot better at exploiting it. His short punches on the inside and the variation of them from head to body before getting out again quickly will cause a lot of problems for Agbeko. When Gonzalez did this, he tended to win the rounds. When he stayed inside for too long, Agbeko had more success, in particular with his body shots which are his best from short range.

I can’t see this fight going anything other than 12 rounds cos Mares isn’t going to hurt Agbeko but I really do believe he holds all the aces in it. He can stand toe-to-toe with Agbeko and win but really it’s not advisable in my opinion. Likewise, pressing the action from the outset would be unwise because Agbeko will have seen the mistakes Mares made vs Darchinyan and has shown he knows how to capitalise on that type of recklessness. Staying on the outside and trading inside on his own terms when Agbeko has left himself open & vulnerable should be the way Mares approaches this because by doing that, he’s making best use of his own strengths and minimising the chances of exposing his own weaknesses, of which there a few.

Really looking forward to this now, hoping Abner can resist the urge to prove his Mexican warrior spirit and do the business!

 

Mares to win by stoppage. He's going to make a statement.