It was 12 rounds of pure, unadulterated fury in the main event of 8 Count Promotion's Chicago Chill card tonight in Chicago, IL as USBA Featherweight Champion Rogers Mtagwa went to war with Mexican challenger Martin Honorio. This was a spiteful contest from the first bell as both men tore at each other, winging bombs with real abandon. Many of the rounds ended in the middle of furious firefights that continued after the bell sounded.

It was Honorio who was the aggressor early, pressuring the champion with a non stop attack, much of it to the body and Mtagwa was shaken often and went down in the second. But Honorio couldn't put the Philadelphia based African away despite landing many bracing left hooks that snapped back the head of Mtagwa with regularity. Mtagwa refused to bend and
dealt Honorio sporadic reverses, countering with overhand rights.

Mtagwa's success rate went up starting in the sixth round as Honorio began to tire and the champion started to come forward, finding the target with heavy shots and a particularly nasty looking right uppercut that shook the challenger several times.

Despite being the much taller man, Honorio fought down to the height of Mtagwa and was repeatedly told to keep his punches up by referee John O'Brien and after slugging the champion behind the head several times, the Mexican had a point taken away in the 8th for rabbit punching.

By the ninth Honorio was bleeding above both eyes and got on his bike for the first time in the fight, stopping long enough to engage in withering slugfests that were clearly sapping the energy from both men.

It was a pitched battle the rest of the way with both fighters hurting the other several times but neither would go down. The twelfth and final round saw Honorio summon his last reserves and outwork Mtagwa before the bell sounded.

The ringside judges scored the bout 114-113 for Mtagwa and 115-112, 1140-113 for Honorio, who becomes the new USBA Featherweight Champion.

Martin Honorio sees his record to 23-3-1 (12) while Rogers Mtagwa drops to 22-11-2 (16).

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