BELFAST, Northern Ireland — On December 2, Troy Williamson, the former British junior middleweight champion was defeated by Caoimhin Agyarko at the SSE Arena in Belfast. Agyarko, 27, from Ireland stormed into the opening round, stinging the opponent and going on to win the second, but lost a few rounds later to a charge and eventually recovered to take the lead.
The Belfast man had an incredible final round and finished like he started, stinging Williamson, 32, to seal the deal and move to (14-0, 7 KOs). The second half of the fight was a close battle, with Agyarko simply doing the slightly more eye-catching work off the back foot against Williamson who pressed throughout.
Williamson(19-2-1, 14 KOs) had pledged to start things quickly, but Agyarko, 27, was quicker, peppering Williamson from England with a sharp double jab as he struggled to get much going in the first.
Every round was fiercely contested, and the pattern persisted into the second round. Williamson initiated effectively with a jab, Agyarko answered suit, and then the Englishman successfully executed a pair of rights before finishing with one of his own.
With Williamson pressing and Agyarko attempting to counter, it seemed like the race might come down to the little things at this point, but the Belfast player who scored with a clean right in the seventh round was providing the extra quality plays.
Caoimhin Agyarko prevailed via split decision (98-92, 97-93, 94-96) over a rampaging bull in Troy Williamson. He occasionally had to work hard for it. “In the build-up to this fight I was going to bed nervous every night,” said Agyarko in media reports.
“I’ve been away from my friends and family since the start of August. I made a lot of sacrifices in camp. I missed my birthday, I missed friend’s birthdays, I missed certain things that I would like to have attended. I was away from my girlfriend, too,” he continued.
“So, I want to enjoy Christmas with my friends and family and then I’ll be heading back to camp end of January. I’ll still train over Christmas but will be back to camp January and we’ll then plan for a big 2024,” he added.