Sena Agbeko was scheduled to battle Cuban David Morrell Jnr for the latter’s WBA Regular Super Middleweight title. He had barely three weeks notice but took the fight anyway superlatively confident in his own capabilities of usurping the champion and annexing the crown.
But dubious tactics came into play when Morrell Jnr and his team realized the granite-hard punching Ghanaian who’s currently the US WBC champion was no cannon fodder neither a cab driver but a bonafide contender capable of messing up their party.
In fact, Morrell Jnr was being hyped up for big money fights against the likes of Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez. And he has had his eyes fixed on these Mexican superstars even before the Agbeko bout was announced.
Therefore foreseeing the danger posed by Sena Agbeko they determined to ditch him barely a week to fight night for an easier opponent in Yamaguchi Falcao, citing medical concerns on the part of Sena, thereby making the Nevada State Athletic Commission refuse to grant him a license for the fight. This was after he had been cleared by a specialist with thirty five years of experience.For obvious reasons the commission acting in tango with team Morrell Jnr was bent on sidelining the US based Ghanaian pugilist who was utterly distraught and devastated by the development.
The bout went on anyway on the Davis-Garcia bill with Morrell scoring a predictable round one knockout and immediately calling out Benavidez and Canelo.
However, Team Sena, not being content with the turn of events have done series of more detailed tests which have revealed that the “African Assassin” has no health concerns and is in perfect shape: both the CT Angiogram and MRI/MRA tests attest to this. This has aroused their angst as they prepare to seek legal redress.
Such actions by boxers, their managements, sanctioning bodies and commissions are in bad taste and should be eschewed if we seek to make our sport more viable.
This is the sport we’ve all grown to love: let the best fight the best and let’s reignite boxing once again.
The author is a boxing writer from Accra, Ghana.
source Samuel Opoku Amoah
