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“Like a reborn Nigel Benn” – Caoimhin Agyarko relieved to deliver first KO


Caoimhin Agyarko [3(1)-0] suggests he was more relieved than happy that he registered his first stoppage win in London on Saturday evening.

The majority would be content with a win regardless of how it came in just your third fight, especially considering all of his have been six rounders – and a stoppage would bring most fighters at that stage of their careers into bonus territory.

However, such are the standards the middleweight sets himself and the standards he is held to by his team, he reveals a stoppage was expected in his latest outing.

Indeed, the 22-year-old wouldn’t of been happy with anything but a quick fire win over Martin Kabrhel in Wembley. 

“It feels good. I would have been disappointed if I didn’t get the stoppage,” Agyarko told Irish-Boxing.com when looking back at the fight.

“I carry power but he was very tough and took some big shots. There was a lot of pressure on me to get the KO in that fight so I am just glad I did.”

With the stoppage seemingly being the be all and end all you’d be forgiven for thinking performance wasn’t a priority in the former National Elite champions most recent fight.

However, the London based Belfast man points out he had set cert performance goals and feels he showed them in the fight – a showing which had respected boxing writer Paul Zanon label Agyarko as being like a “reborn Nigel Benn”.

“I was very happy,” said the Holy Trinity graduate.

“It wasn’t like the first two fights, they were kinda technical”.

“If you look at the footage from the last fight you could see a different Caoimhin in there. I applied a lot of pressure and stuck to him so I could force the stoppage.”

“There were a couple things [worked on in camp], like attacking the body a lot more and setting the big shots up with my jab.”

Agyarko had to wait four months between his second and third fights, with minor niggles delaying him, and is hoping the gap between bouts won’t be as long this time around. 

Indeed the young prospect is hoping to be out twice over the Summer and revealed he is in talks about a possible homecoming, something which appeals as he wants to build a Belfast as well as London fan base.

“I’ll be out in June or July – maybe both dates,” he outlined.

“We are in talks about a fight in Belfast at the minute. I can’t announce the date yet but hopefully everything goes well and I’ll be fighting there this year.”

“It would be unreal obviously [to fight at home]. I am trying to build two fan bases one In Ireland and one in London but I want to give all my supporters in Ireland and Belfast a chance to see me fight so it would mean a lot.”

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Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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