HE may be one of the WBA’s top 10 super welterweights, but Caoimhin Agyarko is struggling to get a fight.
The 28-year-old, ranked eighth, is in esteemed company with former champion Israil Madrimov four spots ahead of him in a pack chasing current champ Terence Crawford.
Yet in 2024, Agyarko’s sole outing came in August against Iranian journeyman Bahadur Karami, where the Irishman won every one of the eight rounds to record his 15th win and maintain his unbeaten record on the Tyrone McKenna-Mohamed Mimoune 2 undercard.
Eight months earlier his 0 was, on paper, placed under threat when former British champion Troy Williamson came to Belfast looking to get back into title contention. Agyarko recorded a split decision win over 10 rounds, but in truth, it should have been a far wider victory on all three cards, not just the two needed for victory.
Thirteen months on from the biggest night of Agyarko’s career he is without a promoter, having previously been under the Matchroom banner, and without a fight date. But he is at least in the running to land a slot on Eddie Hearn’s Irish show on March 1 at The SSE Arena, Belfast, headlined by Lewis Crocker vs Paddy Donovan.
“I’m just hoping that Eddie will put me on the show,” Agyarko told Boxing News during an interview yesterday.
“I’m a big ticket seller. I think it would be a shame to have a show in Belfast and not have one of the most exciting Irish Belfast fighters on the card. I’m just leaving it down to my team, (manager) Paul Ready and STN (Second To None). They’re in talks with Matchroom and I’m just hoping that Eddie can get me on the card.
“He knows I’m an exciting fighter, he knows I’m unbeaten, he knows how much tickets I sell, considering I had five fights with him. I’m just leaving it down to my team and regardless of being on the show or not, I’m just going to stay ready and hopefully an opportunity will come up. Obviously it’s frustrating that I’m stuck in a rut at the moment.
“My career’s not really progressing as what I would like it to after the Troy Williamson fight, but there’s really not much I can do other than stay ready and take my opportunities when they come.”
Agyarko tells BN he was offered a fight with middleweight Aaron McKenna, 19-0 (10 KOs), but the U.S-based Irishman turned it down because he cannot make 160lbs anymore, according to Agyarko.
“They asked me to move up to 160, I said yeah, listen, I’m a 154 fighter, so I accepted it anyway. I’ve fought at 160 before, he turned it down, I was told it’s because he wanted to move up to 168.
“They asked me, would I come up to 164, 163, and I said no, listen, I’m already giving six pound away. I’m not moving up nine, 10 pounds. So yeah, that fight’s not happening.”
Another all-Irish clash Agyarko had been linked to was against another American-based Irishman, rising star Callum Walsh. The Cork contender faces Scotland’s Dean Sutherland in an all-Celtic battle in New York on March 16.
“My manager was in talks with his manager and his manager just basically said that’s a fight for down the line.”
“I don’t turn fights down,” he adds. “You present me with a fight, as long as it makes sense money-wise and career-wise, I’ll accept it. My manager, text me saying, would you fight Callum Walsh? I said yes, no problem at all.
“He says, let me speak to his manager or whatever else. I’m not going to turn the fight down, but his manager’s just said that it’s one for down the line.”
While that may be one to look forward to, Agyarko needs to make a move now; otherwise, the inactivity will continue, and that can kill careers. He did maintain his shape and conditioning, however, over the festive period with his family and friends in Ireland before returning to Liverpool to get his 2025 underway with in-demand trainer Stephen Smith.
After the high of beating Williamson at the tail end of 2023, the next 12 months were nothing short of a disappointment, which led to a different battle outside the ring.
“It was very, very frustrating for me, very mentally challenging,” Agyarko says.
“I was expecting to have a big year, and I had to fight eight months into the year, and against an opponent that was a journeyman, but he was two weights above me. I got told the day before that the opponent that I was meant to fight isn’t fighting me no more, and that the fight’s going to be made at 163. My opponent came in at 167, 168 I think.
“I came in at 161, having to put weight on because I was already ready to fight at 157. So it was a very frustrating year, a lot of challenges that I had to come through last year, but that’s boxing, do you know what I mean? I’ve just got to keep my head screwed on, believe in my team, keep training hard, and hopefully I can get a chance and get a break.”
Asked if he could put his finger on why his year was so forgettable, there wasn’t one specific answer, but at the same time, there was. A professional fighter without a promoter makes life difficult. Agyarko, who has been promoted by Queensberry as well as Matchroom, does have a good management team behind him in STN and Paul Ready.
Agyarko signed a promotional deal with Matchroom in 2021 and was soon dubbed the ‘Irish Canelo’ by Hearn, who also tagged Lewis Ritson as the ‘Geordie Golovkin’ during the early days of their working relationship.
But about a month or so before the Troy Williamson bout, Hearn made comments in interviews referring to some of his fighters needing to step up and take on bigger fights. Some believed his words were aimed at Agyarko, who responded to the matter in an interview with Boxing News posted on November 30, 2023, before addressing why they were no longer working together in another interview in October last year.
“If you don’t have a promoter in boxing, it’s very, very difficult to make fights, it’s very, very difficult to get fights,” Agyarko says. “And obviously, for whatever reason, we didn’t sign a new contract with Matchroom. I’m not too sure why, because there was a contract put in place and ready to be signed. But that didn’t happen.
“So then my manager was trying to get me on shows, get me fights, and no opportunities were coming. And boxing is in a very strange place at the moment, because there’s not as many shows in the UK as there was maybe two, three years ago, because of all the Saudi shows. And that’s just boxing, that’s just the way it’s going, it is what it is.”
The Saudi effect of big shows with main events on undercards has clearly affected the standard of televised boxing cards in the UK. One example is the upcoming Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol 2 bill on February 22 in Riyadh. The supporting cast features six fights, which could easily be headline acts, and three of them would likely have landed in the UK.
Agyarko sees the problem, too, and is perhaps one of many casualties, but his happiness at seeing the biggest fights happening is good enough for him.
“There’s no point crying over spilt milk,” he says.
“I understand how hard it is. I’ve just got to keep training and keep my head up. When the opportunities come, just prove people wrong. Prove myself right. Prove yourself that you’re right to believe in yourself.
“There were three or four fights that fell through for me and every time they did, I went home, threw the toys out the pram, and was fed up with things. I’ve told myself this year that that’s not going to happen.
“I’m going to stay in camp, keep progressing, keep bettering myself and keep improving on my craft.”
