Rigondeaux Dominates Agbeko & Kirkland Stops Tapia
Atlantic City, NJ (December 8th, 2013)– Even with trainer Roger Mayweather in his corner, former beltholder Joseph Agbeko (29-5, 22KOs) was unable to deal with the skill, counter-punching avility and movement of the WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (13-0, 8KOs). The two-time Olympic gold medal winner was outboxing Agbeko in every single round.
The former IBF/IBO champion was unable to get off with anything hard on Rigondeaux and couldn’t finder answer to crack the Cuban’s defense. Rigondeaux had very little trouble or danger at any point in the fight. All three of the official judges scored it fully one-sided – 120-108.
In a junior middleweight showdown, James Kirkland (32-1, 28KOs) made his return to the ring and stopped a previously undefeated Glen Tapia (20-1, 12KOs) in six rounds.
There were fireworks from the first round. Tapia was stunned and taking punishment in the second. Kirkland and Tapia traded moments in the third where they were able to stun each other. Tapia started bleeding from his nose and mouth in the third, but he was fighting his way out of trouble. Tapia appeared to be wearing down in the fourth and fifth rounds. Tapia was landing shots, but Kirkland took them well and kept coming. Both fighters had swelling eyes at this point.
The doctor nearly stopped the fight at the end of the fifth for Tapia, who was taking a lot of punishment and not throwing enough punches back. During the sixth, Kirkland continued to batter Tapia against the ropes until the referee jumped in to stop the match, with Tapia nearly out on his feet.
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