Yesterday, at the Conga Room of LA Live in Los Angeles, Showtime officially announced their latest tourney, "Bantamweight Tournament: Winner Takes All." All four participants in Yonnhy Perez, Joseph Agbeko, Vic Darchinyan, and Abner Mares were present for the festivities, as were promoters Ken Thompson of Thompson Boxing Promotions, Richard Shaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, Gary Shaw of Gary Shaw Productions, as well as Showtime sports head Ken Hershman and Showtime commentator Al Bernstein, who acted as MC of the event. Veteran promoter and icon of the sport Don King was not present to introduce Agbeko, who he promotes, but that did not leave his former IBF champion feeling any less confident.
"After this, I'm going to show you I'm the best of the best," Agbeko announced.
The tournament pits the four fighters against each other in a two-round, single elimination tournament to decide the best at 118 lbs. Two significant members of the weight class who opted not to participate were certainly recognized.
"This really is the super six of the bantamweight, less two runners: Montiel and Donaire," Gary Shaw noted.
Things kick off December 11 when Perez fights Agbeko in a rematch of their bout last year, and Darchinyan takes on Mares, with both fights taking place in Irapuato, Mexico. Gary Shaw, who has the biggest star of the tournament in Darchinyan, did not seem too concerned about his fighter being on his opponent's turf in Mexico. Shaw told his star, "We're going to have a Mexican referee, three Mexican judges, a Mexican timekeeper, and I know you'll win."
"I'm happy to be fighting in Mexico," Darchinyan added. "My style is the Mexican style; guys are coming to fight, coming for a show, so that's what I'm going to do."
The bantamweight tourney is the latest in the tournament trend in boxing to help garner more attention to the often less popular weight classes in the sport. Things began last year with the formation of the Super Six tournament at super middleweight. The tourney brought boxing on Showtime significant attention to the weight class, whose recognition involved crickets chirping and tumbleweeds blowing after undefeated and long-reigning champion Joe Calzaghe retired. The network brought together the six best super middleweights at the time and had them compete in a modified round robin that has since been filled with its ups and downs, but nonetheless became a big attraction to the sport. A cruiserweight tourney has since been announced and this press conference formally introduced one at bantamweight.
Showtime sports exec Ken Hershman deserves a lot of credit for putting on the Super Six by not only managing to hold the tournament together, despite its numerous setbacks, but also in one-upping his rival network HBO, who typically commands the majority of the attention in the sport and certainly would have loved the attention the Super Six drew. Hershamn hopes to continue on this wave of success with this latest bantamweight tourney.
"Two events, four fighters, and we'll know who's the top guy," Hershman said at the press conference. "Put the best fights on and let the fans enjoy it."
Tune in December 8 on Showtime when the semifinals kick off with Perez-Agbeko II and Darchinyan Mares.