Round by Round: Kingsley Ikeke vs. Antwun Echols.

The headlining bout on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights telecast from the Northern Quest Casino in Airway, Washington took place between rising unbeaten middleweight contender Kingsley Ikeke (23-1-1 13KOs) and former three-time world title challenger Antwun Echols (31-6-1 27KOs).

Echols is the much more experienced man, having shared the ring with Bernard Hopkins (twice), Charles Brewer and Anthony Mundine among other but the Florida man has spend his last eight bouts at super middle. Ikeke, at six-foot-four, has a tremendous advantage in height and reach over the five-foot-eleven Echols and will almost certainly work to ram those strengths home.

Round One: A good, spirited opening frame. Lots of back and forth action as each fighter seeks to find the others weakness. Echols lands a good jab on the feigning Ikeke before getting the towering native African on the ropes and scoring with a strong one-two. Echols stalks Ikeke who, not surprisingly, is looking to maintain a distance. There is a lot of holding in this round and during one of these grappling sessions Echols lands a good body blow. When the action resumes, Ikeke catches the advancing shorter man with a good left before a good exchange takes place along the ropes. Surprisingly, the lanky Ikeke gives as good as he gets on the inside and soon after shoots Echols’ head up with a sharp left hook.

Round: Even 10-10.

Round Two: Ikeke is very busy, using good movement to keep the stalking Echols from getting set to punch. Echols tries to avoid the jab but can only do so by using so much upper body movement that his forward motion is nullified. The two trade punches and Echols is momentarily paused. Ikeke rushes in and lands a sharp combination before darting back out again. The more experienced man can’t seem to solve the puzzle at this stage as every time he gets close enough to hit the giant, Ikeke clinches with octopus-like arms. Finally, the former world title challenger corners the opponent but cannot capitalize on his good fortune as Ikeke turns the tables but with little consequence. In the next exchange, Echols succeeds with a left-right combination to the body before cornering Ikeke to little advantage. The round ends with a flurry.

Round: Ikeke 10-9.

Round Three: Ikeke is getting more aggressive and manages to avoid the repercussions of his offensive forays into Echols’ punching range. The forward marching Echols simply can’t do much on the inside and every time he corners Ikeke he can’t get it done or he loses the exchanges. Ikeke is swarming all over Echols until fielding a hard right to the side. Echols begins making a concerted effort to slow the surprisingly quick giant by targeting the body but finds it difficult to string more than the odd shot together against the constantly moving bullseye. Ikeke belts Echols with a long right before catching a clubbing hook for his efforts. The veteran is starting to show frustration at his inability to land a flush shot by launching wild swings that aren’t even close but does manage to finally land a good right hand followed shortly by another right before the action closes in the third. Echols is starting to show signs of Ikeke’s success however, as the area around both eyes has started to swell.

Round: Ikeke 10-9.

Round Four: A brisk beginning with Ikeke landing a good left before clubbing Echols on the back of the head as the Floridian sails by following a missed swing. Echols does gain a measure of revenge however by landing a sharp combination on the inside before following it up with a hard right hand. Ikeke becomes visibly more careful but again Echols can’t capitalize with his man on the ropes. He is more successful on the next trip there, dropping a combination on Ikeke who fights his way off. Echols does manage to narrow the distance and begins to land a series of telling rights on the suddenly less confident opponent. It appears as if the tide is turning in the veteran’s favor.

Round: Echols 10-9.

Round Five: Ikeke begins the round much less active than previously and Echols just misses with a beauty of a long right hand that would have tested the six-foot-four middleweight’s chin. Ikeke darts ahead and counters with a nice right and a good exchange ensues in the middle of the ring. Echols gets in another good right hand that drives Ikeke to the ropes but the tall man again defies logic and gives better than the shorter armed opponent. The two combatants clinch and Echols lands punishing shots on the more tentative Ikeke and follows with a snapping right to the head. This wakes up Ikeke who actually begins stalking Echols with no small measure of success. The round draws to a close with Ikeke back on his bike before once again fighting his way out of a corner.

Round: Echols 10-9.

Round Six: By now, it’s clear that Echols’ right eye is starting to swell badly from below. If it continues he’ll be fighting with effectively one eye and sure enough Ikeke is targeting his laser sharp jab right on it. Echols also looks winded after his aggressive rounds four and five as a rejuvenated Ikeke rakes him. Again fighting his way out of a corner, Ikeke takes a solid right at the end of the exchange. The pace has slowed considerably from the last two rounds and Echols misses wildly with a few big telegraphed shots. Echols’ right eye is looking considerably worse than when the round started as the sixth ends with a donnybrook that Ikeke wins.

Round: Ikeke 10-9.

Round Seven: Ikeke lays it on, strafing a tired foe whose left eye has now begun to join the right by swelling. Echols takes advantage of Ikeke’s overconfidence and snaps him with first a left hook and then a stiff right. He seems energized by the connections until Ikeke settles him back down with a quick combination. Suddenly Echols finds the target with a great short left counter hook that slightly rocks Ikeke and has him back to being careful. Echols tries to follow up but pays for not having a cohesive plan, getting painted by more Ikeke combinations. Echols lands a good left to the body shortly before the bell but is too tired to take further initiative.

Round: Ikeke 10-9.

Round Eight: The right eye of Antwun Echols is painful to even gaze upon as the eighth begins and it’s very evident that Kingsley Ikeke is much fresher at this stage of the fight. Surely the willful former NABF and USBA middleweight champion can no longer see the punches coming from his right side but onward he marches into a hail of fire from his protagonist’s gloves. Echols finds some one-off success but for every shot landed, he takes many more in return. A left hook briefly stuns the now partially blind fighter who begins to employ the jab to protect his injury. The round ends with Echols landing a right hand that has little zip to it and takes two from Ikeke for his trouble.

Round: Ikeke 10-9.

Round Nine: Between rounds, the Echols corner receives a visit from the ringside physician and one has to wonder just how much longer things can go on like this. Despite the ballooning eye, Echols comes out with new vigor, trading combinations with his none too worse for the wear opponent. Echols again starts up the jab but the steady deluge of Ikeke offense is whittling him down. Perhaps feeling that the heavy-handed Echols no longer has any sizzle to his shots, the mantis-like Ikeke hazards a closer position from which he had been operating. No longer does Ikeke fear what might result from his boldness and is right as Echols lands impressive looking shots that have little effect. Ikeke lands a big right as the round closes.

Round: Ikeke 10-9.

Round Ten: Echols has been operating on heart alone for the last few rounds. One eyed, exhausted from the beating and the weight loss, racked with uncertainty and catching hell from an unrelenting opponent, the question begs how is he able to continue? The brave fighter catches Ikeke with a cracking right hand, catches a counter and goes down on one knee holding the hideously swollen right eye. He gets up and tries to stay away from Ikeke but to little avail. Echols is backpedaling but getting tagged with clipping blows. This looks a lot like the end of his rematch with Bernard Hopkins several years ago, with Echols looking like a man in dire need of a life preserver. The round ends with Ikeke bouncing his foe from one end of the ring to the other.

After the round, trainer Dan Birmingham mercifully calls a halt to the full-fledged one-sided affair, telling Echols there’s no way he can win the fight.

Result – Ikeke WTKO10.

Richard Eberline can be reached at richardeberline@fastmail.fm