Yonnhy Pérez vs. Joseph Agbeko II

The Bantamweight Tournament Semi Finals:Yonnhy Pérez vs. Joseph Agbeko II

Date	December 11, 2010
Venue	Emerald Queen Casino, Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	IBF bantamweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Yonnhy Pérez Joseph Agbeko Nickname "El Colombiano" "King Kong" Hometown Cartagena, Caribbean Colombian, Colombia Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana Pre-fight record 20–0–1 (14 KO) 27–2 (22 KO) Age 31 years, 10 months 30 years, 8 months Height 5 ft 5 in (165 cm) 5 ft 5 in (165 cm) Weight 118 lb (54 kg) 117+1⁄2 lb (53 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition IBF Bantamweight Champion The Ring No. 3 Ranked Bantamweight IBF No. 2 Ranked Bantamweight The Ring No. 5 Ranked Bantamweight Former bantamweight champion
Result
Agbeko defeats Pérez via unanimous decision

Yonnhy Pérez vs. Joseph Agbeko II was a professional boxing match contested on December 11, 2010, for the IBF bantamweight championship.

Background

Four bantamweight boxers participated in The Bantamweight Tournament: Winner Takes All, one of the bouts being Yonnhy Pérez vs. Joseph Agbeko II. The tournament itself was a two-stage, single-elimination tournament of 118-pounders – which began with two semifinal bouts on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010, in the Battle at the Boat series from the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash.

Build up

Rather than an immediate rematch with Pérez and Mares, Pérez faced 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.[1]

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. Pérez was the only current champion, (Vic Darchinyan was the IBO champion, but that organization lacks real recognition by the International Boxing Hall of Fame, other organizations, boxing magazines and fans) while Agbeko had held world titles and Mares was a top contender. They had a combined record of 102-4-3 with 76 knockouts before these two bouts.[2]

The fights

In the opening bout, undefeated, world-ranked rising star Abner Mares of Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico, faced two-division world champion Vic Darchinyan of Sydney, Australia, by way of Armenia.[3]

In the main event, Pérez and Agbeko squared off against each other for the second time. They had fought a Fight of the Year candidate the previous October.[4]

Main Event

Rather than brawling as he had done in his first fight with Pérez, Agbeko chose to use his boxing skills and stiff jab to cruise to a unanimous decision victory, with the judges scoring it 116–112, 117-111 and 115–113.[5]

Aftermath

Agbeko was scheduled to take on Mares in the Bantamweight Tournament Final on April 23, 2011. However, Agbeko pulled out of the fight just days prior, citing an injury, and the fight was rescheduled for August 13 in Las Vegas.[6]

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:[7]

Televised

• Bantamweight bout: Yonnhy Pérez (c) vs. Joseph Agbeko
  • Agbeko defeats Pérez via unanimous decision.
• Bantamweight bout: Vic Darchinyan (c) vs. Abner Mares
  • Mares defeats Darchinyan via split decision.
• Super Flyweight bout: Cesar Seda vs. Ernie Marquez
  • Seda defeats Marquez via TKO in round 1.
• Super Bantamweight bout: Chris Avalos vs. Cecilio Santos
  • Avalos defeats Santos via RTD at 0:01 of round 4.

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
United States	Showtime

External links

• SHOWTIME Bantamweight Tournament at the Wayback Machine (archived 2010-10-30)

References

1. Blake, Brian O. (October 4, 2010). "Showtime Holds Press Conference For Upcoming Bantamweight Tournament". SportsBettingWorld. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
2. Connor, Patrick (December 7, 2010). "Showtime Bantamweight Tournament: Vic Darchinyan vs Abner Mares Preview". BoxingBulletin. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
3. "Showtime Sports Bantamweight Tournament". GoldenBoyPromotions. 2010-12-07. Archived from the original on 2012-03-14.
4. Doug, Fischer (2010-12-10). "Perez-Agbeko II: The Rematch". RingTV. Archived from the original on 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
5. LaBate, Chris (December 11, 2011). "Joseph Agbeko Decisions Yonnhy Perez, Reclaims Title". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
6. "Article". usatoday.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-01.
7. "BoxRec - event".

Preceded by vs. Abner Mares	Yonnhy Pérez's bouts 11 December 2010	Succeeded by vs. Vic Darchinyan
Preceded by First bout	Joseph Agbeko's bouts 11 December 2010	Succeeded by vs. Abner Mares