BoxingScene's 2008 Year in Review: The Bantamweights

By Cliff Rold

Another of the smaller divisions where quality is not tested often enough by clash at the very top, 118 lbs. trucked along for another year with some solid pros and no unification amongst myriad beltholders. There were stories despite the flaws. Excellent European based titlist Wladimir Sidorenko suffered his first career loss to Anselmo Moreno and Moreno moved on to a pair of successful defenses. Aging WBO titlist Gerry Penalosa sat out much of the year, seemingly looking for the best spot to cash out a distinguished career. IBF titlist Joseph Agbeko returned from a long layoff to leave fans wondering why they aren’t seeing him more often but it was the division’s best fighter and titlist who shined brightest in 2008.

Bantamweight Fighter of the Year: Hozumi Hasegawa

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He needs only the right opponent to make clear what is starting to be evident: Hasegawa might just be a pound-for-pound sort of talent. Posting three defenses to run his WBC total to seven, Hasegawa continued to hold down the top spot at 118 since the departure of Rafael Marquez. He continued to do it against real opposition. Maludrottu and Valdez were both legitimate top ten wins and Faccio was an acceptable breather. Add in two wins in previous years against Veraphol Sahaprom and rugged Genaro Garcia, and it appears the 28-year old Hasegawa might just be a special fighter in his prime.

Will he get the chance to prove it in 2009? Most BoxingScene readers may not have seen him thus far but a proposed bout with a rebuilding Cristian Mijares might just garner him an audience and provide the right test to find the sort of answers his career needs. For now, he was the standout at Bantamweight for this year.

Bantamweight Fight of the Year: Joseph Agbeko-William Gonzalez

It remains shocking to say it wasn’t even the best fight of the night, but this undercard gem beneath the Cruiserweight title battle between Tomasz Adamek and Steve Cunningham stands on its own. It’s been awhile since the two best fights in separate divisions happened just minutes apart in the same arena, but that’s just what happened on December 11. As reported at: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=17428

One week after the pay-per-view showdown between Oscar De la Hoya and Manny Pacquiao provided fans with an unworthy undercard, the Cunningham-Adamek show opened up with a world title war at Bantamweight for (cable) free. Making his first title defense some fifteen months after capturing IBF belt at 118 lbs., Ghana’s 28-year old Joseph Agbeko (26-1, 22 KO) survived a game challenge from 27-year old mandatory challenger William Gonzalez (21-3, 19 KO) in a bout that covered both men in glory.

Both men came out behind their jabs at the opening bell, Gonzalez, 117, a southpaw with the right and Agbeko, 118, with an orthodox left. Just shy of a minute in an Agbeko right bent Gonzalez’s knees but he stayed up. As the round progressed, Gonzalez attempted to find room for his left but was forced to absorb the punch as a lead hook from the titlist. A right and left were blocked by Agbeko, whose gloves were held high, but Gonzalez stemmed his momentum with a wicked uppercut to the groin. After a brief respite for Agbeko to collect himself, it was Gonzalez ending the round with straight power punches.

Round two picked up with both men winging power shots and remaining in the trenches throughout. Each would stun the other, trading the initiative back and forth behind hard lead power shots. Gonzalez appeared to get the best of it down the stretch and he continued his assault in the third with an early right hook. As the seconds ticked off the clock, Agbeko began to reassert himself by mixing in hooks to the body but the punch totals continued at uncountable levels.

What passed for a slower pace marked the early going of the fourth round. The flow of leather and a number of head butts throughout the bout had opened a cut over the left eye of Gonzalez and a swelling under his right. Agbeko’s right eye also showed a mouse beneath it. Both warriors continued to throw despite their wounds. The Ghanaian’s lead left hook was beginning to take its toll, the last of them in the frame standing Gonzalez up.

In the fifth, Agbeko’s advantage in landed blows increased. Often sans a jab, sneaky lead lefts sliced through the gloves of Gonzalez when the left hook wasn’t slamming into the challengers cheeks. The pace slowed again in the sixth, Agbeko with the advantage, but the closing moments saw a second nasty low blow landed for Gonzalez.
The cup shot didn’t slow Agbeko this time around. In the seventh he continued to apply pressure, blocking the best of the Nicaraguan’s offense while sliding in and out with power shots. Gonzalez adjusted halfway through the eighth round, probing more with his jab and looking to counter the charges of Agbeko. While it was not enough to stop the incoming, it allowed the challenger room for a hard pair of body blows and his best left hand in a couple of rounds.

A second wind seemed reached by each man to start the ninth, each man bouncing on his toes and their shots carrying an echo not heard since the first three rounds. Gonzalez’s jab allowed room for a thudding left and right uppercut. Two Agbeko rights didn’t faze the challenger who fired back with a right hook. The Gonzalez jab popped Agbeko falling in repeatedly, jerking the champion’s face towards the floor.

It was Agbeko early in the tenth looking to make a statement after clearly losing the ninth. A hard lead right jerked Gonzalez’s head back and a hard left just missed. Gonzalez stayed with a steady jab. In the final minute both men opened up, a full sixty second exchange ensuing, and by the bell Gonzalez appeared to have hurt Agbeko badly to the body. The champion bent sharply at the waist with each landed blow, holding his left tightly to his lower left rib cage.

The left arm continued to hold the elbow close to his waist at the start of round eleven, seemingly still catching his breath. A left hook from Gonzalez whacked the chin of Agbeko a minute in but Agbeko took it well. In the final minute, it be would Agbeko landing the better blows and the stage was set for a blazing finale.

It instead got off to a tentative start as each looked for a best opportunity. A right to the head and then body for Agbeko began the story of the final frame. Pot shotting, Agbeko landed the punch at will both straight and as a hook repeatedly to dominate and close the show. In the end, the round was merely insurance for Agbeko who retained with a majority decision on matching scores from Larry Doggett and Larry Layton at 116-112, or eight rounds to four. Veteran official Tom Kaczmarek saw the bout even at 114-114. The referee was Earl Brown.

Bantamweight: The Year in Results

Since last January, BoxingScene has produced quarterly ratings for each of Boxing’s seventeen weight classes. Ratings for the first quarter of 2009 should be available at the New Year; for now, here’s a look back at the critical Bantamweight results of 2008.

First Quarter
01/10: #1 Hozumi Hasegawa (23-2, 7 KO, WBC) UD12 #8 Simone Maludrottu (26-2, 10 KO)
01/10: #2 Wladimir Sidorenko (21-0-2, 7 KO, WBA) UD12 Nobuto Ikehara (27-2, 19 KO)
02/02: #7 Silence Mabuza (21-2, 17 KO) TKO8 Eden Sonsona (14-3, 3 KO)

Second Quarter
04/06: #3 Gerry Penalosa (53-6-2, 36 KO, WBO) TKO8 Ratanachai Sor Vorapin (72-10, 48 KO)
05/31: #9 Anselmo Moreno (22-1-1, 8 KO) UD12 #2 Wladimir Sidorenko (21-1, 7 KO, WBA)
05/31: #6 Silence Mabuza (22-2, 18 KO) TKO5 Damian Marchiano (15-4-1, 5 KO)
06/12: #1 Hozumi Hasegawa (24-2, 7 KO, WBC) UD12 Cristian Faccio (15-3, 10 KO)
06/24: #5 Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym (35-1, 25 KO) KO3 Jason Butar (2-4-1)

Third Quarter
09/18: #2 Anselmo Moreno (23-1-1, 8 KO, WBA) W TD7 Cecilio Santos (22-9-3, 12 KO)

Fourth Quarter
10/12: #10 Sasha Bakhtin (21-0, 9 KO) W UD10 Gerson Guerrero (32-8, 24 KO)
10/16: #1 Hozumi Hasegawa (25-2, 9 KO, WBC) TKO2 #9 Alejandro Valdez (21-3-1, 15 KO)
10/30: #2 Anselmo Moreno (24-1-1, 8 KO, WBA) UD12 Rolly Matsuhita (25-7-1, 14 KO)
12/11: #4 Joseph Agbeko (26-1, 22 KO, IBF) MD12 William Gonzalez (21-3, 19 KO)
12/31: #10 Sasha Bakhtin (22-0, 9 KO) UD10 Sung-Kook Kim (11-5-1, 6 KO)

Continue to check BoxingScene’s Year in Review as it hits overdrive with Year-End Awards as voted on by the site’s staff.

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