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Rico Hoye vs Akinyemi Laleye 25.2.2009

1,467 views · Published 30 July 2016 · 41:13 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: Classic Boxing Matches · 2016 · Sports

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The Contender Season 4 bronze medal final between Rico Hoye and Akinyemi "AK47" Laleye.  The fight was sloppy at times with occasional unsportsmanlike behavior but 1 boxer clearly stood out over the other... More info below...

Rico Hoye was an 8 year veteran having started as a light heavyweight back in 2001.  He had great success early on in his career going undefeated in his first 18 fights.  In 2003 Hoye won the vacant NABO Light Heavyweight and IBA Continental Light Heavyweight titles when he beat Etianne Whitaker by TKO after knocking him down 3 times within 2 rounds.  In 2004 Hoye beat Donnell Wiggins by 1st round TKO to add the WBC Continental Americas Light Heavyweight and the vacant NABF Light Heavyweight titles to his waist.  In 2004 Hoye beat former WBC World Light Heavyweight Champion, Montell Griffin, to become number 1 contender for the IBF World Light Heavyweight title.  In 2005 undefeated Rico Hoye travelled to the U.K. and was matched with Clinton Woods to fight for the vacant IBF World Light Heavyweight title, unfortunately for Hoye he was stopped by TKO in round 5.  In 2007 Hoye fought undefeated WBC International Light Heavyweight Champion Adrian Diaconu, but was completely outclassed being knocked down multiple times and cut badly over the short 3 round fight.  After a near 2 year absence from the ring, Hoye entered the Contender Season 4 in 2009 as a cruiserweight hoping to kick start his career again.  He found early success with unanimous decisions over Michael Alexander (12-2) and Joell Godfrey (9-1-1) but lost his semi-final match to Ehinomen Ehikhamenor (14-3).  Hoye entered the bronze final with a 22-3 record.

Akinyemi Laleye, who preferred to go by the name, AK, was a struggling light heavyweight.  He turned pro in 2005 however he had never made any really progress having fought mostly very limited competition.  He entered The Contender in the hope that it would fast track his career to bigger and brighter things however he would also be the underdog of the tournament, as he was the naturally smallest of all the competitors...  AK entered The Contender with a less than impressive 10-1 record however he surprised everybody when he won his first 2 fights against Eric Vega (8-2-1) and Alfredo Escalera Jr (16-1-1).  Although AK lost his semi-final fight to eventual Season 4 winner, Troy Ross, he had already proved he was not somebody to take lightly.  

The fight between AK and Hoye started off well but as it wore on both men got sloppy and were warned by the referee multiple times about unsportsmanlike conduct.  After 8 rounds of "gorilla warfare", Hoye was awarded a unanimous decision, only giving away 1 round on all judges scorecards.  AK never fought again after the loss, leaving the ring with a 12-3 record.

Hoye took another long hiatus from the ring following his win over AK, finally returning 4 years later in 2013 trying his hand at heavyweight, scoring a 1st round TKO in his return bout.  Hoye slimmed back down to cruiserweight before traveling to Poland for his next fight but lost a 10 round decision to Lukasz Janik, who was 10 years his junior and coming off a recent world title challenge... Hoye has seemingly retired as of 2014 with a 24-4 record.

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