WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell and his opponent Sena Agbeko made weight today for their main event fight on Saturday night December 16th.
Morrell (9-0, 8 KOs) weighed 167.6 lbs for his sixth defense of his WBA secondary title. Agbeko (28-2, 22 KOs) weighed 167 lbs. The 25-year-old Morrell looked badly drained today compared to Agbeko. Morrell will likely put on a lot of weight overnight.
This event will be shown on Showtime beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. This will be the last boxing broadest for the network, as they’re cutting their sports department and focusing on series programming moving forward.
In the co-feature, lightweight Chris Colberto (17-1, 6 KOs) weighed 134.6, and Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KOs) scaled in at 134 lbs for their WBA 135-lb title eliminator.
This fight could steal the show from the main event, as these guys fought last March in a razor-close fight that was won by Colbert by a ten round decision.
The PBC is expected to end up on Amazon Prime Video. It’s unclear at this time what that will mean for non-PPV fighters like Morrell. It would be a shame if his fights wind up on undercards of the bigger names.
An end of an era for Showtime
“It could be the best card in the world, but it would still be bittersweet. It’s going to be a lot of emotions for a lot of people that have been here for 20-30 years. A lot of people who have been here since Showtime started in 1986,” said Stephen Espinoza of Showtime to Fighthype, discussing this Saturday’s final boxing broadcast with the network with the Morrell vs. Agbeko event.
Complete weights
David Morrell Jr. 167.6 vs. Sena Agbeko 167
Chris Colbert 134.6 vs. Jose Valenzuela 134
Robert Guerrero 148.2 vs. Andre Berto 148.2
Alberto Puello 143 vs. Ector Madera 143.2
Kyrone Davis 161.4 vs. Cruse Stewart 160
Lawrence King 182.2 vs. Alex Theran 182.4
“To see that all go away suddenly, it’s going to be emotional for a lot of people. Not just because we love the sport but we love each other. When you’re on the road with the same group of people, some very close, that might be going away.
“There’s a lot of history and a lot of great moments that are going away. You can’t take that away, but it’s an end of a generation, an end of an era. The best piece of advice I’ve gotten is not to rush a decision,” said Espinoza on where he should go to next.”
Boxing fans have been blaming some of the poor events that have been shown on Showtime in the last couple of years for the reason why Paramount is eliminating the sport from their network. But as Espinoza points out, there was a merger, and new management, and they decided they wanted to focus on series programming and do away with sports.
“There’s a big part of me that wants to stay with the sport. That’s where my heart is,” said Espinoza. “I’ve put a lot of time and energy into it, and I’m proud of the momentum and I’m proud of the fighters. There’s a big part of me that wants to continue that work.
“There’s a lot of work to be done and a lot of upside left, but there are other opportunities. There’s a lot of stuff out there, a lot of stuff in sports. So, I’m taking my time. I haven’t made a decision yet. I’d be lying if I didn’t feel a draw to stay in this sport.
“None of the shows that we’ve done have been perfect. I also look back at an old fight or an old deal that I wish could have gone slightly better. But in terms of getting to this result, it’s a combination of a lot of factors.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations with senior management about this, and it’s really it was something that was out of our hands. We all know the economy is tough, and there are a lot of changes going on in streaming and in the media overall.
“We know that Paramount as a company has been challenged. We’ve seen it across a lot of the media companies. Programming changes, personal cuts, and this is a merger happens, new leadership comes in, and they want to do things differently.
“It’s not that there wasn’t enough PPV buys or enough viewership. They’re chapping things up. They were considering selling BET, they tried to sell Bet, and BET is coming off some of the best years they’ve ever had.
“So, Showtime decided, ‘We’re not doing boxing anymore. We’re not doing sports. We’re not doing documentaries. We’re not going to do comedy or music. It’s going to be a scripted programming.
“It’s going to be series programming. That’s where they want to put all their money and all their efforts. So, that’s their prerogative. When you’re senior leadership at a corporation, you get to determine strategy, and unfortunately, that means the end of what we’re doing here.
“I don’t think it was an app per se, but rather an app that was very limited. Fundamentally, you ask the question, do you want to go on a service with a half a million subscribers or do you want something with an audience of 100 million subscribers?” said Espinoza, talking about Amazon Prime Video.
