By Jim Dower: IBF bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko (28-2, 22 KO’s) won’t be able to defend his International Boxing Federation title this Saturday night in Showtime’s Bantamweight tournament against challenger Abner Mares (21-0-1, 13 KO’s) due to Agbeko suffering a case of sciatica after a long plane ride. Agbeko collapsed shortly after the plane flight and was face down on the canvas unable to move for a short period of time. He was then taken to a nearby hospital and has been ruled medically unable to fight for Saturday night against Mares.
Needless to say, this is a crushing blow to the Showtime’s bantamweight tourney because this was a final bout and with only three of the four contestants in the tourney now, it hardly seems like a tournament anymore. Even with all four, it was a weak tourney to say the least due to absence of Nonito Donaire and Fernando Montiel. Not having those two fighters in the tournament is like the equivalent of having a heavyweight tournament but without both of the Klitschko brothers.
Technically, it’s a tournament but a tournament of what? And now with Agbeko gone the tournament is even more weakened to the point where it’s just a few fighters tending their own gardens. Showtime is trying to get a replacement to face Mares, but you can’t expect much on this short notice. According to Dan Rafael of ESPN, there was talk of having southpaw Vic Darchinyan fight Mares again. The two previously fought last December in the bantamweight tournament with Mares winning a controversial 12 round split decision. But a rematch doesn’t make sense because Darchinyan is already scheduled to fight Yonnhy Perez (20-1-1, 14 KO’s) on Saturday night in the bantamweight tournament.
There was also talk of Eric Morel or Tamoki Kameda stepping in as a replacement to face Mares, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen and even if it does, who cares? We’re still talking about fighters that aren’t on the same level as Donaire and Montiel and also appear to be a level below Mares, Agbeko and Perez. Who wants to see that? Without Agbeko in the tournament, they might as well cancel the whole thing. I think it was a bad idea in the first place without Montiel and Donaire participating and with Agebeko out, they should just cut their losses.
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