IBF bantamweight champion Joseph King Kong Agbeko weighed in at 116 ½ pounds and four-time world champion and challenger Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan tipped the scales at 117 ½ pounds, both within the 118-pound bantamweight limit. Agbeko and Darchinyan, two of the pound-for-pound hardest hitting boxers in the world, will face off for Agbeko’s title tomorrow, Saturday, July 11 LIVE on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast) from the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. Darchinyan will be fighting to become a three-division world champion..
Agbeko (26-1, 22 KOs) from Accra, Ghana, now fighting out of Bronx, N.Y., has knocked out over 81 percent of his opponents with Darchinyan (32-1, 26 KOs), from Sydney, Australia, by way of Armenia, right behind him at 76 percent. Antonio DeMarco measured 134 ½ pounds and Anges “Baby Face” Adjaho tipped the scales at 135 pounds.
Demarco (21-1-1, 15 KOs), of Tijuana, Mexico, will face West African native Anges “Baby Face” Adjaho (25-1, 14 KOs) in the SHOWTIME televised 12-round co-feature. The winner becomes the No. 1 ranked WBC lightweight and the mandatory challenger to current champion Edwin Valero.
Tickets to the event, priced at $75, $40 and $25 and $10 (with a limited number of golden circle seats available at $200), can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets, charge by phone at (800) 745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com or BankAtlantic Center box office. The event is promoted by Don King Productions in association with BankAtlantic Center. Agbeko vs. Darchinyan and DeMarco vs. Adjaho are co-promoted with Gary Shaw Productions.
Saturday’s SHOWTIME telecast will also feature a tribute to the late Michael Jackson and Alexis Arguello. Don King promoted the historic Jacksons Victory Tour in 1984 that reunited the Jackson 5 and brokered a colossal endorsement deal between Jackson and Pepsi. Arguello, who died last week in his native Nicaragua, was a former world champion boxer who once lived in the South Florida area.
SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING announcers Gus Johnson and Al Bernstein will call the action with Jim Gray reporting from ringside. The executive producer of SHOWTIME Sports is David Dinkins Jr., with Bob Dunphy directing.
YONNHY PEREZ TRAVELS TO FLORIDA FOR AGBEKO VS. DARCHINYAN
July 10, 2009 (Sunrise, FL) – Rising bantamweight star Yonnhy Perez (19-0, 14 KOs) arrived in Florida earlier today for the highly anticipated bout between champion Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko and Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan for the IBF Bantamweight title fight to take place on SHOWTIME Championship Boxing tomorrow, Saturday, July 11 LIVE on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING (9 p.m.ET/PT).
“This is going to be a good fight between two great champions. Agbeko is a strong, solid puncher, and Vic is a powerhouse at 115 and now elevating his sights to the bantamweights. I have to fight the winner,” said Perez the IBF mandatory challenger who is coming off a dramatic, jaw dropping, career-best 12th-round TKO over heavily favored, local favorite, Silence Mabuza in an IBF eliminator on May 29, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“It doesn’t matter to me who wins. I will always respect a world champion but I have earned my right to fight one of them next,” said Perez upon arriving to the hot and humid Florida. “I have proved to be at the level by beating Mabuza, and make no mistake about, it was not a fluke. All I have to do now is sit, enjoy the show and scout my next opponent,” concluded the Colombian that resides in Santa Fe Springs, California who is co promoted by Thompson Boxing Promotions and Gary Shaw Productions.