BELFAST – Caoimhin Agyarko came through the crisis of a horrifically swollen right eye to outscore Ishmael Davis by the narrowest of margins at Windsor Park.
Davis won on a solitary scorecard by a score of 115-112 but Howard Foster was overruled by two colleagues who scored 114-113.
It was close and hard-fought all the way – Agyarko remains unbeaten at 18-0 (7 KOs).
Even a controversial late knockdown couldn’t sway the judges, after it appeared that the fighters’ feet became tangled.
Davis tried to find a way in during round one by switching stances, and Agyarko used the ring, moving from side to side.
Davis stood between rounds and Agyarko smiled after scoring with a jab-right hand in the second, but he took a couple of shots back in reply.
Both were thoughtful, and neither was prepared to gamble early. Agyarko fired in a left to the body; Davis was finding him hard to pin down.
The Leeds man came out with more purpose in the third. He crowded Agyarko and upped his intensity and volume. Despite losing at a high level previously, to Serhii Bohachuk and Josh Kelly, Davis would have known a loss here would hurt his career.
Agyarko – who lives in Belfast – smiled again when he made Davis miss with a long right hand and, with his back to the ropes, he made room for a short left hook near the bell to end the third.
Agyarko’s handspeed and movement was the difference. His trainer Stephen Smith, a former world-title challenger, applauded Agyarko’s work in the fifth. Davis was being made to look one-dimensional while Agyarko was able to land his shots and generally move away unscathed.
Davis kept pitching. He was throwing his left to the body with regularity; you didn’t have to think back far to him coming on strong late on against Kelly to realise his best rounds might still be ahead of him going into the seventh.
Much of what Agyarko threw landed on Davis’ gloves, but Agyargo’s right eye was starting to close. He also made Davis miss his shots by enough that he was moved to mock him by holding his arms out the way that a matador would entice a bull.
The right eye, regardless, was an increasing concern. From ringside a ledge of flesh could be seen forming beneath it, and Davis was finding a home for his left.
Near the bell, Agyarko threw a long right as Davis leaned back. Agyarko’s fans celebrated the shot, but there was no power on it.
The referee Michael Alexander took a look at the eye to start the ninth but Davis had one job – stay southpaw and aim his left hand at the damaged area.
Agyarko was in a tough spot. To keep Davis off he needed to throw his right, but he knew that that would leave the wound unprotected. Davis was happy to make him pay, too.
Agyarko’s team pressed the enswell on to the damage between rounds and again the referee took a look at the injury before the 10th round.
Agyarko was plucky and courageous. He let his hands go in the 11th but couldn’t put a dent in Davis and still prodded and probed away.
To start the 11th the doctor was summoned to look at the eye but Agyarko was allowed to go on.
Davis clipped him with a left uppercut part way through the round. Agyarko landed a crisp left hook, but Agyarko’s right hand dropped too often and he only sparingly moved to his left to protect the eye. He landed a flashy burst to close out the round, but the contest hung in the balance.
They touched gloves before the 12th, and with less than a minute gone it appeared their feet tangled and Agyarko went down. It was scored a knockdown and Agyarko protested but the decision remained.
He landed a good left hook of his own as they battled through the final 10 seconds.
Both boxers celebrated at the bell and Agyarko’s eye was a lumpy blue-and-purple mess, reminiscent of how the late Diego Corrales looked at the end of the first fight with Joe Luis Castillo.
They waited nervously for the decision. Agyarko saluted the Irish fans. Davis falls to 13-3 (6 KOs).
Tyrone McKenna had by then outlasted his fellow southpaw Dylan Moran in a breathless two-round shootout in December, and the pace was not so frenetic this time. Both had their moments early on. Moran scored with a crisp left hand but McKenna was busier – although a clash of heads left him with a nick by his left eye.
By the end of two rounds last time, what locals now call the Waterford Hagler-Hearns was over. After two rounds here, it was starting to warm up.
Belfast’s McKenna was on the front foot and Moran ate a short right hook. Both were busy. Moran’s team implored him to “move” when he had his back to the ropes, and Moran was now cut by his left eye.
McKenna held the upper hand in volume and power, and Moran had to fight hard to stay in it. He was forced to hold in the fourth, too.
Moran was coming off second best in the exchanges in the fifth as McKenna methodically broke him down by staying in range, making Moran work and keeping him under duress with frequent jabs, short right hooks and clubbing lefts.
Moran started the sixth fast, but it was a last stand more than a meaningful change in momentum. McKenna rode out what came his way, stood his ground and fired back. He also marched through a right hook, which would have further dispirited Moran.
A minute into the next and the ending was suddenly imminent. Moran was flagging and found himself on the canvas courtesy of a right, two lefts and a final right that caught Moran around the neck before he dropped to the floor.
When the Waterford man got back up, McKenna steamed in to finish and the fight was waved off by the referee Reece Carter as a weary Moran covered up on the ropes.
The time of the stoppage was 1:22 of the seventh, and the fierce rivals embraced after the verdict was announced.
McKenna moves to 25-6-1 (8 KOs). Moran is 19-4 (9 KOs).
