This is a solid fight though one with a clear favorite in my eyes. Vladimir Shishkin has been slowly working his way towards a title shot in the Super Middleweight division and this is the next step of that plan. Sena Agbeko is 28 but has been very inactive in recent years with his last competitive fight being in 2014 where he lost by 4th round knockout.
Vladimir Shishkin clearly punches hard and always aims for the knockout though he has the technical skills from an extensive amateur background to win a decision if needed. He doesn’t really get hit very often and is generally solid all round though not exceptional at any one thing. I don’t think he’ll encounter too much trouble until he steps into fighting top 15 fighters in the division and at that point his hand speed may let him down.
Sena Agbeko isn’t a bad fighter but isn’t quite as fundamentally good as Shishkin is. His defence isn’t great as he keeps his head on the center line when attacking and his only way of avoiding punches is to use his footwork which isn’t anything special. His record shows he has some power though when he has stepped up hes gone the distance so I think it’s padded a little bit. He’s never been past eight rounds and hasn’t gone a hard six or eight rounds so this is really his first big test since he got knocked out six years ago. His chin has to be questioned as the fighter he was knocked out by wasn’t the biggest puncher in the world and ended up retiring without having achieved anything major in professional boxing. That fight was also down at middleweight and while Agbeko hasn’t had his chin tested at Super Middleweight i’d reckon a guess and say it isn’t any better than it was at middleweight.
I think Vladimir Shishkin will win by late stoppage due to being better fundamentally combined with Agbeko’s leaky defence and questionable chin. I also think as Shishkin forces the fight Agbeko won’t be used to the hard rounds and will tire meaning Shishkin can stop him later in the fight.
Boxing Fulcrum 