Caoimhin Agyarko produced a huge left hook to force a ninth-round stoppage of Californian Noe Larios Jr in a scheduled ten-rounder at middleweight on the Benn-Algieri bill in Liverpool.
At 25, Agyarko, who was born in London but who calls Belfast home, has a lot going for him, but is clearly still a work in progress. When he took his time, Agyarko look sharp and dangerous, but when he neglected his jab he tended to put himself in danger’s way.
In his eagerness on his Matchroom debut, Agyarko also tended to dive in from a bit far away. It led to him being countered at times, but once he landed a big left when launching himself at Larios.
He was more patient in the third round and got rewards, as Larios wandered into range and was caught by a big right and left hook.
The fifth was a good round for Agyarko as he landed well with a right hook early and finished the round well, trapping Larios in a corner. But he struggled to capitalise on that success and it was the ninth before he really stepped on the gas, as he exchanged with Larios and then really put the pressure on him.
The finish came quite quickly, as a left hook rocked Larios and staggered him back to the ropes. Agyarko jumped on him, unloading with both hands and prompting referee Howard Foster to step in at 2:08 of the round, to hand Agyarko a WBA “international” belt.
Agyarko is now 10-0, Larios is 14-1.
Jordan Gill’s attempts to blow off some ring rust in the build up to a likely European title shot in the new year went wrong, as his eight-rounder against Alan Luques Castillo, of Argentina, was declared a technical draw at the end of the third round after Gill suffered a bad cut high on his head from a clash of heads.
Until then it had mostly been like a sparring session, although Castillo was doing quite well in the third round until the head clash moments before the bell sounded.
Calum French, whose chance of going to the Olympics was hit when the 60kg division was abolished, was taken the six-round distance on his professional debut by Rustem Fatkhullin, from Russia,
French looked good and kept the pressure on a tough opponent, although he never really threatened to stop him. Referee Bob Williams scored it 60-54.
Fatkhullin, who had won his first eight professional bouts, extended his winless run to 17 since.
Joe McGrail, the younger brother of Peter, made a successful professional debut as Francisco Rodriguez, of Spain, retired after two rounds of a scheduled super-bantamweight four.
A big looping right hand had dropped Rodriguez in the second round and MCGrail finished the round well on top after rocking the Spaniard with another right.
Paddy Lacey went to 3-0 within two months of his professional debut with a 40-36 decision over Vasif Mamedov at super-welterweight. Lacey went closest to forcing a stoppage in the final round, but the Russian knew enough to keep himself out of trouble.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 – covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.