Sena Agbeko says he suspects that WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr. was using some type of performance-enhancing drug last Saturday night with second round knockout win at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Agbeko (28-3, 22 KOs) admits that he doesn’t know for a fact that Morrell (10-0, 9 KOs) was using PEDs, but he sees something odd about the absence of drug testing for the fight, even though he’d signed a document for WADA to test and it didn’t happen
Missing drug testing
The 31-year-old Agbeko says that Morrell didn’t want to fight in Las Vegas, but chose Minnesota, where he says there’s no drug testing done, and he feels that’s a suspect move. He feels this is a red flag about something going on.
Agbeko looked overmatched, too small, too weak, and not showing the kind of skills that would have given him a chance of winning against Morrell.
Agbeko sour grapes or legitimate concern?
“I was bummed about the stoppage, I thought it was a little too quick, but then after rewatching the video, I thought the referee made the right decision,” said Sena Agbeko to Fighthype, talking about his second round blowout loss to WBA ‘regular super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr. last Saturday night.
“We both signed a document to be drug tested by WADA, and none of that happened. There was no testing by the Commission before or after the fight. They explicitly stated that the Commission wasn’t required to do the testing, and they chose not to do any testing for this fight,” Agbeko continued.
Fans obviously will see this as a situation with a fighter unable to deal with the loss and coming up with anything to try and make sense of the devastating loss. Abgeko’s complaining without evidence will look like a classic example of fighter unable to deal with losing badly in competition.
“I think there’s something up in that regard. He was the better man tonight. I just wish I had more rounds to showcase my skill and show that I belong at the world level,” said Agbeko. “I’ll bounce back. I may consider a possible move to 160 because these guys are huge at 168. Him [Morrell] and Benavidez. So, I think it’s only right that I consider a smaller weight class.”
It’s not a shock that Agbeko was blown out by Morrell, as he’d only fought one notable fighter during his career, Vladimir Shishkin in 2021, and lost a lopsided ten round unanimous decision by the scores 100-90, 100-90, and 98-92.
That fight showed that Agbeko wouldn’t be up to the mark against a talent like Morrell. The Cuban crush would have been better off fighting Shishin than Agbeko, and it’s unclear why he was even chosen for this event.
“I can make 160 easy, but I chose to stay at 168. I’m pretty sure that’s the direction I want to go,” said Agbeko. “Go down a weight class or maybe even two; who knows? So there, I’ll be able to showcase my power and showcase my skills.”
Agbeko should probably go down to 154, as there are too many talented fighters in the 160-lb division that would feast on him in a similar way that Morrell did.
They likely wouldn’t beat him as badly, but he would be overmatched nonetheless because he’s too robotic and doesn’t look as skilled as some of the fighters that exist at the top of the middleweight division.
“He’s a very strong fighter,” said Agebeko when asked about Morrell. “I have a lot of respect for him. He’s very sound. Technically, he’s very good at going back and coming forward. He was very patient tonight. My biggest issue with him as a fighter was the drug testing, and I believe there’s something going on with that team,” said Agbeko.
Morrell choosing Minnesota
“The need to have me come here and fight in Minnesota. They avoided fighting me in Vegas, but they were happy to fight me in Minnesota, where there’s no drug testing. It’s not that I would have had any means of cheating, but come on,” said Agbeko, muddying the water after his loss to Morrell.
It’s easy to understand why Morrell would want to fight in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as that’s his adopted hometown, where he lives and it’s the location for six of his ten professional fights during his four-year professional career.
Morrell has been fighting in that city from day one, and it wasn’t a special case of him suddenly selecting Minnesota to fight for the Agbeko clash. His fanbase is in Minneapolis, so it makes sense that he would want to fight there.
“You make me sign a contract for WADA testing, and then there’s no testing whatsoever. So, it feels like it was a setup. Absolutely, 100%, I think he’s on something because in the fight in April [against Yamaguchi Falcao], we saw a lot of acne on his face and on his back, and I definitely think he’s on something,” said Agbeko.
“He’s big, he’s strong. It’s more around making me think they’re going to test, and then they don’t test because they want to give themselves that advantage. So okay, if you have nothing to hide, why are you refusing the test?
“It was definitely surprising,” said Agbeko on the power of Morrell. “The shot that I got caught with. When I was watching the interview, I got caught with a shot right at the top of my head. That’s what started everything.
“Then I found myself in the corner and then he followed up with a couple of more punches. It was his typical barrage, but that first one pretty much got me good, which, at the time, I did not recognize. He has good power, but all of that is negated when your drug testing is in question, and that’s what I want critically looked at,” said Agbeko.
Without any concrete evidence of Morrell using PEDs, there’s not much Agbeko can do, but deal with the defeat and try and improve moving forward. In terms of the fight, Agbeko was lost the moment the fight started, and was getting hammered at will by Morrell in parts of the ring.
Agbeko didn’t have the technical skills to match up with Morrell, and getting knocked off balance by his hard shots. He didn’t look like he belonged in the same ring with this caliber of fighter, and would have been better off fighting a lower-level guy from the bottom tier.
Lack of evidence
“He brings people here in Minnesota, and there’s no drug testing, and currently, there’s a lawsuit against him by Mario Abel Cazares against him and his team,” Agbeko said. “He’s suing everybody else about the fact that when he came here to fight him, there was no drug testing. They made him think there was going to be drug testing. There was no drug testing.
“So, there’s a huge possibility that he could have gotten away with whatever they wanted to load up their system with, and it’s not fair as an athlete. We work so hard, invest ten thousands of dollars to get ready for these fights, only for somebody to work half as hard and then use steroids or whatever PEDs there are to have an unfair advantage,” said Agbeko.
It would be a shame if Morrell’s victory is now tainted due to Agbeko’s complaints about the lack of drug testing and his suspicions of potential foul play. Obviously, he’s disappointed in losing the fight, and some would say he’s grasping at straws in an effort to make sense of his failure.
“I’m not saying that he’s used PEDs, but the fact that there was no testing and they led us to believe that there would be testing creates suspicion,” said Agbeko.
Morrell hasn’t said anything yet about Agbeko’s accusations, but it’ll be interesting to hear what he and his management say about the defeated fighter’s concerns about the lack of drug testing done for the fight.
