Former IBF champ Joseph Agbeko officially retires from boxing

[Ruthless-RKO]

Former IBF champ Joseph Agbeko officially retires from boxing

After four years of hibernation, Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko has called it quits from the sport that made him a household name in Ghana.

Agbeko, 44, announced his retirement from boxing in an interview with Boxing Scene.

“Yes, I’m retired. I decided to quit boxing long ago, but I’m yet to make it official,” Agbeko said. “Boxing is a sport where nobody has to retire you. You have to retire yourself, because it’s a sport that you either give or take. When you begin to feel the pain of punches, then you’ve to know that your body can’t take it anymore. So you’ve to get away from it, because it’s better to retire and live a healthy life than to put yourself in the ring and get hurt.”

Agbeko’s retirement announcement comes four years after his last ring outing, against Albert Commey in 2020. Commey lost a fifth-round TKO to the Ghanaian boxing legend in his native Accra, Ghana.

Ghana’s Agbeko became the country’s fifth world champion, in 2007, after David Kotei, Azumah Nelson, Ike Quartey and Alfred Kotey. At 27, Agbeko retired Nicaragua’s Luis Alberto Perez in seven rounds to become the IBF bantamweight titleholder – a belt he defended twice before losing to Colombia’s Yonnhy Perez two years later.

Agbeko exercised a rematch clause to regain his title 14 months later. However, he would go on to lose the IBF belt again to Mexico’s Abner Mares in 2011. That defeat ended his reign as world titlist after he failed to reclaim the title in a rematch four months later.

Agbeko faced many great fighters at 118 during his heyday, including in a 12-round unanimous decision defeat to Cuba’s Guillermo Rigondeaux in 2013. Since then, Agbeko only came close to another world title again in 2021, when he won and defended the WBO Africa bantamweight title three times.

When a world championship fight failed to materialize, Agbeko blamed the WBO for deliberately frustrating his career despite his being rated in the top three by the sanctioning body. Now, Agbeko has turned his attention to mentoring the next generation of Ghanaian fighters to reach their full potential.

He is currently focused on nurturing the careers of Theophilus Allotey and amateur fighter Benedict Badu.

“I’m into mentorship of young boxers,” he said. “Guiding young, juvenile and amateur boxers into reaching their full potential and making sure that they’re able to achieve their dreams so that they can be successful in whatever they do.

“So far, I have two boxers under my mentorship. There is Theophilus Allotey, who was a member of the Black Bombers [Ghana’s national amateur boxing team.] He’s turned pro and already has three fights to his credit and he’s picking up. Also, Benedict Badu, who is a light heavyweight at the amateur ranks, will also have his pro debut before the close of the year, so I’m working on the two of them for now.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

Joseph Agbeko regrets taking Abner Mares rematch, Don King’s decisions

Thirteen years after losing to Abner Mares, Joseph Agbeko believes he shouldn’t have taken the rematch.

Agbeko (38-5, 28 KOs) lost his 118-pound title to Mares in a Showtime bantamweight tournament in August 2011. Agbeko was on the receiving end of two questionable knockdown calls, which was the difference in a 113-113, 115-111 and 115-111 majority decision for Mares.

According to the now officially retired Agbeko, taking the Mares rematch four months after their first fight remains the biggest regret of his career due to what he believes was sabotage on the part of his then-promoter Don King.

“In life, you can never have regrets – you can only have lessons,” Agbeko told BS. “Maybe one regret was accepting to take Abner Mares’ second fight, because it was in that fight that my promoter [Don King] made sure I lost.

“He did everything to make me lose that fight. I don’t know if he sold that fight or whatever, but he made sure I lost. The referee in the first fight was bad, but the second referee was worse. He made sure I wasn’t able to do anything at all in the ring.”

Agbeko had a stellar heyday, which saw him become a two-time bantamweight titlist. The Ghanaian won his first belt in 2007 when he retired Nicaragua’s Luis Alberto Perez in seven rounds. Agbeko then made two successful defenses before losing to Yonnhy Perez in 2009.

A year later, Agbeko reclaimed his title from Perez in a 12-round unanimous decision win. Agbeko’s celebration was cut short when he lost the title to Mares eight months after winning it.

According to Agbeko, everything went wrong in his career after that fight.

“I regretted taking that fight because I could have just walked away with the loss that they cheated me and then moved on with my career,” he said. “But accepting that fight actually had a negative effect on me. It’s one of the lessons that I can pass on to other boxers.”

Agbeko said his frustrations with King started during his training camp ahead of the second fight with Mares. He alleged that every decision about the fight was made to favor Mares.

“[King] frustrated me in every way that could get me off my toes during my training camp,” Agbeko said. “The fight was supposed to be promoted by Don King and Golden Boy promotions, but he gave everything to Golden Boy.

“If he really wanted us to keep the title or win that fight, he would’ve co-promoted the fight, but he let everything go. The fight was held in Abner Mares’ hometown, which is Anaheim [California]. He gave everything to them and didn’t even attend the fight, as well.”

[margaret thatcher]

fighter unhappy with don king, now there's a shock

[RScarf1]

He defeated Vic Darchinyan in his second title defense of the IBF bantamweight title.

[Perseus]

Literally, no person on this planet or the next three cares.

Thanks for the announcement though.

[JCS]

Thought he had been retired for about 10 years.