Showtime Boxing held a press conference at the Conga Room in Los Angeles to formally introduce the “BANTAMWEIGHT TOURNAMENT: WINNER TAKES ALL” that begins Saturday, Dec. 11, live on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast) from Irapuato, Mexico. The tournament is promoted by Don King Productions in association with Gary Shaw Productions, Golden Boy Promotions, and Thompson Boxing Promotions.

Ken Hershman, Showtime Sports Executive Vice President and General Manager, introduced the tournaments participants along with their respective promoters. The field was originally slated for six participants, but Showtime was unable to secure commitments from Fernando Montiel (42-2-2) and Nonito Donaire (24-1). That left the tournament with a field that includes the IBF bantamweight world champion Yonnhy “El Colombiano” Perez (20-0-1), former IBF bantamweight world champion Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko (27-2), two time division world champion Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan (35-2-1), and rising star Abner Mares (20-0-1). It’s essential to note that each fighter has fought at least one of the other fighters in competitive bouts.

The opening round of the tournament will see a rematch between Yonnhy Perez and Joseph Agbeko. Perez unanimously out-pointed then defending champion Agbeko to capture the IBF belt on Oct 31, 2009. The Colombian native feels that this tournament is an opportunity to show everyone who really is the best in the bantamweight division, a theme that resonated with every fighter in the field. He said that he is training twice as hard to show the people from Mexico and the boxing community that good boxers do come out of Colombia. He also addressed his future opponent by saying “we are going to fight a clean boxing fight with no head bunts or low blows.” The first fight amongst the two saw several questionable head bunts by Agbeko.

Joseph Agbeko’s questionable tatics in past fights seemed to be an important topic. Gary Shaw commented that Agbeko’s head bunts were the one thing in common between the Agbeko vs. Perez bout and the Agbeko vs. Darchinyan bout. The Ghanaian refuted Shaw’s claims by stating that he does not intentionally head bunt his opponents. He went on the say that he feels better about the rematch with Yonnhy Perez. Agbeko claims that he was not fit for their first fight and promised that this time he will be in top shape.

The other bout will be between Vic Darchinyan and Abner Mares who are both fighting for the World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver Belt. Darchinyan said he will be mentally and physically prepared to face Mares in Mexico. His opponent matched his enthusiasm by stating that he will train three times a day to prepare for the bout. Mares feels that his youth, hunger, and talent are going to lead him to victory in his native land. The former 2004 Olympian from Mexico went on to say “It was destiny for me to fight in Mexico.”

I think this tournament is destined to be explosive!!!