Joseph Agbeko regrets taking Abner Mares rematch, Don King’s decisions

Thirteen years after losing to Abner Mares, Joseph Agbeko believes he shouldn’t have taken the rematch.

Agbeko (38-5, 28 KOs) lost his 118-pound title to Mares in a Showtime bantamweight tournament in August 2011. Agbeko was on the receiving end of two questionable knockdown calls, which was the difference in a 113-113, 115-111 and 115-111 majority decision for Mares.

According to the now officially retired Agbeko, taking the Mares rematch four months after their first fight remains the biggest regret of his career due to what he believes was sabotage on the part of his then-promoter Don King.

“In life, you can never have regrets – you can only have lessons,” Agbeko told BoxingScene. “Maybe one regret was accepting to take Abner Mares’ second fight, because it was in that fight that my promoter [Don King] made sure I lost. 

“He did everything to make me lose that fight. I don’t know if he sold that fight or whatever, but he made sure I lost. The referee in the first fight was bad, but the second referee was worse. He made sure I wasn’t able to do anything at all in the ring.”

Agbeko had a stellar heyday, which saw him become a two-time bantamweight titlist. The Ghanaian won his first belt in 2007 when he retired Nicaragua’s Luis Alberto Perez in seven rounds. Agbeko then made two successful defenses before losing to Yonnhy Perez in 2009.

A year later, Agbeko reclaimed his title from Perez in a 12-round unanimous decision win. Agbeko’s celebration was cut short when he lost the title to Mares eight months after winning it.

According to Agbeko, everything went wrong in his career after that fight.

“I regretted taking that fight because I could have just walked away with the loss that they cheated me and then moved on with my career,” he said. “But accepting that fight actually had a negative effect on me. It’s one of the lessons that I can pass on to other boxers.”

Agbeko said his frustrations with King started during his training camp ahead of the second fight with Mares. He alleged that every decision about the fight was made to favor Mares.

“[King] frustrated me in every way that could get me off my toes during my training camp,” Agbeko said. “The fight was supposed to be promoted by Don King and Golden Boy promotions, but he gave everything to Golden Boy. 

“If he really wanted us to keep the title or win that fight, he would’ve co-promoted the fight, but he let everything go. The fight was held in Abner Mares’ hometown, which is Anaheim [California]. He gave everything to them and didn’t even attend the fight, as well.”

Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].