Agbeko vs. Mares Results:
The Showtime Bantamweight Tournament came to a close Saturday evening, however, the end came in controversial fashion. According to announcer Al Bernstein, it may have been the worst officiating for a major fight that he’s seen in the past 15 years. When the Agbeko vs. Mares results came in, Abner Mares took home the IBF title and the Showtime bantamweight championship, maintaining his undefeated record, and Joseph Agbeko got served with an unjust “L” on the ledger that was directly affected by a referee’s incorrect judgments.
The problem in the fight stems from the repeated low blows that Mares hit Agbeko with. He repeatedly strayed far below the belt, and especially with his left hooks and left uppercuts to the body.
It brought to mind the Darchinyan-Mares bout, where afterward, Darchinyan produced and distributed a video clip with all of the low blows that Mares had hit him with. Mares was at it again on Saturday evening against Agbeko, but the referee, Russell Mora, was content with leveling meaningless warnings one after the another without any real discipline.
Eventually everything came to a head in the 11th round. Mares hit Agbeko clearly below the belt, it was a blatant low blow… a nut shot, if you would. It would have been a fine time to take away a point from Mares, but instead, it was called a legit knockdown.
Not only should there not have been a knockdown called, giving Agbeko at least one extra point on every card and potentially offering a three point swing if you believed he won the round, but Mares should have been docked at least one, maybe two or more points during the affair.
The final scorecards came in and read a Majority Decision for Mares, 113-113, and 115-113, 115-113.
Unfortunately, the controversy with the Agbeko-Mares results takes away from what was an exciting, back and forth bout, which wrapped up an equally exciting four person tournament. Both men gave it their all in the ring, but the bottom line is that without the ref’s calls, Agbeko at least maintains his title via a draw, if he doesn’t win the fight outright. Agbeko and Mares both deserved better than this.
The referee for the evening was Russell Mora, who defended his actions on the air following the bout. However, upon viewing the fight later he will have to come to terms with his views and how they changed the outcome of this important encounter.
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