The “magic lantern” department of the purveyors of pugilism sometimes get its “Expert” recognition tarnished - most recent egg on the face arrived last noche with Showtime Saturday Special commentators going with the favorite Vic Darchinyan over defending bantam champion Joseph Agbeko - to the tune of holding a pre-fight poll on how many titles in different weight classes the “Raging Bull” would have captured after last night. 

Sight unseen or not, a large majority of fans went overwhelmingly with the power punching Armenian over the Ghanaian - apparently, most likely missed the Darchinyan-Donaire flyweight title fight some six outings back - a close affair that ended with the Filipino standing and Darchinyan resting on the canvas. 

With that bit of knowledge, just maybe the defending bantamweight champ had a chance of upsetting the proverbial apple cart - personally, my thoughts were Darchinyan probably wins, but I wouldn’t bet a nickel on it. The Agbeko 26-1, with 22 KO’s carried the amber light for all to see. 

Darchinyan opens the quicker of the two - snatches stanza one with a banzai attack borrowed from one of them WW2 war flicks - smart beginning I thought, maybe get lucky with one of them wild errant offerings as a tester to the quality of the champ‘s chin construction. 

Round two It’s Agbeko having the edge with both willingly waging war in the trenches - but the key to success on this night would be Agbeko having a plan B to fall back on - and he stuck with it.  

Over the middle rounds Agbeko goes the counter punch route - with assorted head and body movements it’s a desperate Darchinyan missing and Agbeko scoring - toss in the usual port vs. starboard ugliness we see both straying from the Queensberry rules. 

Candle seven Darchinyan catches a light in the tunnel when a straight left hand finds the sweet spot with Agbeko off balance, and we have a flash-knockdown - bad news however, no damage done. 

They swap rounds eight and nine before Agbeko, on my unofficial, claims as his own the championship stanzas 10-11-12 - enough for the win. 

Official tallies had it all Agbeko 116-111, 116-111, 114-113 - my unofficial scribbling had it Agbeko 116-111 in points and 9-3 in round by round method.  

Closing thoughts: Joseph Agbeko (age 29) goes to 27-1, 22 KO’s - showed heart, stamina and a good counterpunch in both hands - but the “King Kong” sobriquet a poor choice. The forte is spelled elusiveness - quick head movement coupled with instant retaliation when opponent misses the target. Unification should tell rest of the story at 118 lbs.    

Vic Darchinyan, (age 33), drops to 32-2, 26 KO’s - it’s not the age factor that caught up to him - showed heart when cut over both eyes late in fight - but over them championship rounds the “Raging Bull” never saw red - but rather resignation as in survival mode. It's clear when Darchinyan cannot dictate the tempo he’s pretty much clueless. Good news, his promoter can now quit milking the cash cow by moving him up to levels where he doesn’t belong.