Sena Agbeko insisted going into his fight with favored Isaiah Steen on Friday in Atlantic City that he was a world class fighter and just needed the stage to demonstrate it.
The Ghanaian wasn’t all talk.
Agbeko, known more for his punching power than his technical ability, defeated Steen by a unanimous decision in a closely contested 10-round bout on “ShoBox: The New Generation”.
The official scores were 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94, all in favor of Agbeko (27-2, 21 KOs).
“To be able to show up and get this done, I’m very happy to get the vindication for all the hard work I’ve put into this sport,” said Agbeko, a 30-year-old based in Nashville.
“My biggest worry coming in on the B-side was that I was going to get robbed. He was better than I expected, and my goal was to just stay loose and let my hands go.”
Agbeko started and finished strong, winning the first three and final two rounds on all three cards. Steen (16-1, 12 KOs) had his most success in Rounds 4 through 8.
The judges evidently favored Agbeko’s aggression and power punching.
Steen, who boxed well, was surprised that he ended up on the wrong side of the decision.
“The scoring was messed up, for real,” Steen said. “He wasn’t going to touch me. I was throwing more jabs, connecting and landing more shots. I don’t see what the judges saw, but I definitely won that fight.
“They were scoring his blocks. His big punches were blocks and weren’t landing. When they said 98-92, I thought that was my score. He wasn’t touching me.”
Agbeko, who wasn’t ranked going into Friday’s fight, is now thinking big. He said after his victory that he’d like to face another boxer from Nashville.
“I want Caleb Plant! Caleb,” he said. “Let’s do it in Nashville. Let’s sell out Bridgestone Arena.”