by Cliff Rold
Try to make a serious argument against Bantamweight and Jr. Welterweight being the two best divisions in boxing right now. Just for fun.
It ain’t gonna’ be easy.
Not every second of the doubleheaders aired in the U.S. on HBO and Showtime was great, not every round must-see. At night’s end, only one of four contests had the glow of a classic but none left the feeling of time wasted.
They were good fights, featuring good fighters, in competitive weight classes. This wasn’t any pound-for-pound garbage; wasn’t flight of fancy haggling. It was the real thing; real boxing.
And it set the stage for even more in 2011.
Let’s go to the report cards.
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Yonnhy Perez A-; Joseph Agbeko B+/Post: A-; A-
Pre-Fight: Power – Perez B; Agbeko B/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Defense – Perez B; Agbeko B/Post: B; B+
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Perez A; Agbeko A/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Speed – Vic Darchinyan B; Abner Mares A/Post: B+; B+
Pre-Fight: Power – Darchinyan A; Mares B/Post: A; B-
Pre-Fight: Defense – Darchinyan B-; Mares B+/Post: B; B
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Darchinyan A; Mares A-/Post: A; A
Pre-Fight: Speed – Amir Khan A; Marcos Maidana B-/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power – Khan B+; Maidana A/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Defense – Khan B; Maidana C/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Khan B; Maidana A/Post: A; A
Starting with the smaller men, Agbeko (28-2, 22 KO) showed off new dimensions of himself and turned one of the sport’s rare tricks. Not only did he win a rematch of a fight he’d clearly lost, Agbeko did it in fairly dominant fashion. Considering that he had not fought since the loss to Perez in October 2009, that he did it without the obligatory tune-up or confidence booster, spoke volumes about the Ghanaian’s character.
Boxing more, and countering rather than trying to take turns in a pace set by Perez (20-1-1, 14 KO), Agbeko built an early lead and kept piling on to it. Perez had some moments, particularly in the thrilling sixth, but he could never put a real run together. The bad part, for Perez, was the bad part for Agbeko a year ago. Despite another gallant effort, in what was (for he and Agbeko) the latest in a string of hard fights, Perez will learn what it is like to wake up without the IBF belt at 118 lbs.
The two being tied at 1-1, a third Agbeko-Perez fight is in order. It’s likely to happen some day but not next. Next is all locked up with Agbeko moving on to Mares (21-0-1, 13 KO) and Perez locking up with Darchinyan (35-3-1, 27 KO). Both should be pick ‘em affairs. As a bonus, they are also fights no one has seen before.
Mares certainly earned his way to the Agbeko match in the final. In a fight full of fouls and flush bombs from both men, Mares showed off a set of solid whiskers. Darchinyan didn’t throw enough to win the fight but he landed plenty of stuff that might have stopped someone else. The point is made because there will be those who wonder, after losses at Bantamweight to Mares and Agbeko in the last year and change, whether Darchinyan carried his punch up from Flyweight and Jr. Bantamweight.
It’s a pretty shallow bit of wonder. Darchinyan can punch like hell; 118 is only three pounds up from the Jr. Bantamweight class he cleared out. Perez was rocked a few times by Agbeko and finding out whether he can take it the way Agbeko and Mares have against the diminutive banger will make their consolation round battle worth waiting for.
The final is fascinating, especially after Agbeko’s performance Saturday. Can Mares hope to win if he chooses, as was the case in the Darchinyan fight, to come forward? Mares is nowhere near the volume puncher Perez is and Agbeko looks quick enough to play counter puncher. Can Mares make Agbeko come after him? Time will tell and the clock is simply not moving fast enough.
Time has already told us one thing that couldn’t be certain just yet: the WBA Jr. Welterweight titlist Khan (24-1, 17 KO) is the real deal. Sure, his talent already spoke to a legitimate force as a professional but whether he could marry that talent to his star power was another matter.
No, he is not ever going to be confused with Jake LaMotta or Wayne McCullough in the whiskers department. Khan can match anyone in terms of heart though and, combined with increased discipline in keeping his chin closer to his chest, the 2004 British Olympic Silver Medalist appears ready for the next level. Win or lose, after the Maidana war, Khan has earned everyone’s respect.
And it was a war. Khan actually struck first, allowing Maidana (29-2, 27 KO) his latest illustration of tremendous guts and downright insanity. He took a pair of body shots that left him looking electrocuted in the first and was on his feet almost immediately. He didn’t even do the traditional rise to one knee and grimace thing first.
At the end, this scribe saw it 113-112 for Khan, six rounds apiece with the difference coming in Joe Cortez’s point deduction for an errant elbow from Maidana. The point loss was fair but the late officiating of Cortez was anything but. Here’s the deal: in a clinch, if there is a hand free, a break need not be called. Cortez was in the frame far too often for a fight no one paid to see him in. Khan was so determined to finish that it can’t be said to have affected the outcome but it could have.
Khan moves on, probably to a showdown for complete rulership at 140 lbs., in 2011. Maidana needs to get a little more face time as well. Consider: he had a case for winning against Andriy Kotelnik in his first title shot and came just short of pulling it off a second time. Not bad for a guy whose ‘skills’ get questioned. One day, it would be nice to see these two do it again but that’s not an immediate future for either.
With an eye on seeing them both have longer careers, that’s probably for the best.
The best is what the sporting world got from boxing on Saturday night. Bantamweight and Jr. Welterweight can be expected to continue delivering for the foreseeable future.
Report Card Picks 2010: 38-16
Ratings Impact
It’s hard to take anything away from Maidana after the loss and matters were a little too tight to edge Khan any higher so both men stay put in the ratings at #3 and #5. Hopefully Khan will face the winner of next month’s Timothy Bradley-Devon Alexander fight in 2011. Lamont Peterson showed tremendous heart in fighting through early adversity in 2009 against Bradley. He came off the floor against Victor Ortiz Saturday on the Khan-Maidana undercard and, earning a draw, stays a step ahead of Ortiz in the ratings.
At Bantamweight, Mares won in the ring but loses a slot in the ratings here. It’s no slight. That’s just how crowded it is in this class. Agbeko moves back to third while Perez drop two slots to fifth and Mares a slot to sixth. One division lower, Cristian Mijares re-enters the ratings at 115 lbs. with a new title around his waist.
Those results, and others are captured in this week’s ratings update.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com