El Colombiano King Kong 5 feet, 5 inches 5 feet, 5 inches | 20–0-1 (14 KO) 27–2–0 (22 KO) Date 11 December 2010 | |
Venue Emerald Queen Casino, Tacoma, Washington, United States Title(s) on the line IBF Bantamweight Title. Result Agbeko defeats Perez via unanimous decision | ||
Four of the world’s most talented bantamweights will participate in The Bantamweight Tournament: Winner Takes All. It is a two-stage, single-elimination tournament of 118-pounders – which begins with two Semifinal bouts on Saturday, Dec. 11, in the Battle at the Boat series from the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash.
Contents
In the opening bout, undefeated, world-ranked rising star Abner Mares of Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico, will face two-division world champion Vic Darchinyan of Sydney, Australia, by way of Armenia. In the main event, Perez and Agbeko will square off against each other for the second time. They had fought a Fight of the Year candidate last October, and the bantamweight standouts will likely repeat their scintillating performance when they meet.
Build up
Rather than an immediate rematch with Perez and Mares, Perez will be facing Joseph Agbeko for the second time in the first round for his IBF, which he won from him, in Showtime's upcoming bantamweight tournament while Mares faces Vic Darchinyan. The winners of both fights will face each other sometime in early 2011.
They are barely unknown outside of boxing circles, fighting in a 118-pound division that rarely gets any attention. But they've all signed on for a single-elimination tournament in hopes of not only making a name for themselves, but also providing boxing fans with some exciting fights. The tournament originally was scheduled for Leon, Mexico, but Showtime did a site survey and realized that the cost for staging the event there - including security in a region that has been besieged by violence among the drug cartels - would be prohibitive. When no venue could be secured in Los Angeles, the event was moved to Tacoma, Wash. Perez is the only current champion, [Vic Darchinyan IBO champion] while Agbeko have held world titles and Mares is a top contender. They have a combined record of 102-4-3 with 76 knockouts.