By Scott Gilfoid: According to ESPN, 34-year-old former two time IBF bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko 29-5, 22 KOs) is a possible opponent for WBA World super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg’s next title defense on November 22nd on the undercard of the Tony Bellew vs. Nathan Cleverly 2 fight card at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK.
Quigg’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport is working on matching Quigg against either Agbeko or little known #3 WBA Shingo Wake (17-4-2, 10 KOs). Either one of those guys are perfect opponents because they’re not much of a threat at all to beat Quigg.
The World Boxing Association has given Shingo Wake a very, very generous ranking based off wins over basically fluff opponents.
In the meantime, WBA Super World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux’s manager Gary Hyde is looking to have the WBA order Quigg to fight him because Rigondeaux’s mandatory is overdue. Rigondeaux was hoping to face #4 WBA Chris Avalos, but he bowed out of the fight and chose to face IBF champion Carl Frampton.
“Rigondeaux is the ‘super champion’ and we’ve asked the WBA about it. Their WBA mandatory is overdue,” said Pat English, the attorney for Rigondeaux and Hyde in speaking to RingTV.com. “Given the fact that Avalos has backed out, we’ve asked the WBA to go forward with that mandatory. I would think that they would go with it. Otherwise, what else are we going to do?”
That would obviously be a bummer for Quigg if he were to have to face Rigondeaux on November 22nd instead of little known Shingo Wake or Agbeko. That would likely be a straight up loss for Quigg if he were to have to face Rigondeaux, and you have to wonder whether Quigg would take the fight or just vacate in order to keep his unbeaten record intact.
Agbeko hasn’t fought since last December when he lost a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision to Rigondeaux in a fight that was painfully one-sided. Agbeko has now lost 4 out of his last 6 fights, and he’s not ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies. I’m not sure how Hearn could get the World Boxing Association to agree to sanction a fight between Quigg and Agbeko given that Agbeko isn’t ranked in the top 15. This would be another Danny Garcia vs. Rod Salka type fight if it takes place.
Shingo Wake, 27, has suffered all of his 4 defeats in Japan against local Japanese fighters. He’s not faced anyone that you can call dangerous or good for him to be ranked so highly by the WBA. If Hearn is able to get Wake for Quigg, it would be pretty much a title-milking fight for Quigg.
Comments are closed.