Darchinyan-Perez a Step in the Right Direction at LinesMaker

Darchinyan-Perez a Step in the Right Direction

Joseph Agbeko’s sci­atic injury, which forced him to pull out of the Show­time ban­tamweight tour­na­ment finale against Abner Mares that is slated for Sat­ur­day at the Nokia The­atre in Los Ange­les, could have been dis­as­trous for all those with a stake in the promotion.

And while it’s not ideal, the result is hardly a disaster.

Show­time opted to broad­cast the third-place fight between Vic Darchinyan and Yohnny Perez as the main event. And it’s the result of the fact that pro­mot­ers and the net­work agreed to work together to pit the best against the best.

Box­ing is often a main-event-only sport and if some­thing hap­pens that forces one of the main event par­tic­i­pants to be unable to fight, the card often goes with it. But when Show­time put the ban­tamweight tour­na­ment together last year, it included a third-place fight, even though that would include a risk to the fight­ers, as well as their pro­mot­ers and managers.

By hav­ing a third-place fight, one man was assured of com­ing out of the elite four-man event with two losses on national tele­vi­sion. And that’s his­tor­i­cally been a risk many pro­mot­ers and man­agers didn’t want to take with their best guys.

But by doing the right thing for Show­time, it ulti­mately ben­e­fit­ted the fans. Despite Agbeko’s injury, a Darchinyan-Perez fight can stand up and it has the poten­tial to be every bit as com­pelling of a fight as the Andre Berto-Victor Ortiz wel­ter­weight war on HBO a week earlier.

“I feel bad for Joseph Agbeko and wish him the best,” Darchinyan said. “It’s unfor­tu­nate, but some­times things just hap­pen. What every­one should know is that they are going to get is a great fight. We will put on a great show.”

Each man has been in a string of out­stand­ing con­sec­u­tive matches. Perez lost his Inter­na­tional Box­ing Fed­er­a­tion ban­tamweight belt to Agbeko in the tour­na­ment opener on Dec. 4 in Tacoma, Wash., in an excel­lent back-and-forth bout. He had drawn with Mares at the Sta­ples Cen­ter in Los Ange­les on May 22 in a wild bout that stole the show from the main event that night, the fourth match between Rafael Mar­quez and Israel Vazquez.

Darchinyan will be fight­ing for the 13th time on Show­time, behind only Julio Cesar Chavez and Evan­der Holy­field, and the vast major­ity of those bouts have been electrifying.

Darchinyan promises to make the 13th a lucky one.

He tried to box against Mares in the tour­na­ment opener, and while he had his moments, didn’t have the sus­tained suc­cess he’s had in past bouts. So he’s vow­ing to go to an all-out style against Perez.

“In my last fight, I showed skills for all 12 rounds and didn’t go bomb­ing for a knock­out,” Darchinyan said. “But no more. I’m chang­ing my style again. I’m going to knock out every­one in front of me. This time, it’s Yohnny Perez. I’m just com­ing to knock him out. I’m just com­ing to destroy him. You will see.

“Peo­ple talk about when I moved to ban­tamweight and say I’m not as pow­er­ful as I was at 115 pounds. You will see how pow­er­ful I am at bantamweight.”

Perez, though, has plenty of pop, too. He’s 20–1-1 with 14 knock­outs and, unlike Darchinyan, has been a ban­tamweight his entire career.

And while Perez is gen­er­ally a soft-spoken guy, he’s none-too-pleased with Darchinyan’s trash talk and plans to make a point when the bell rings.

“I know Vic has said a few things about me and how the fight will go and I really hope he can back those words up,” Perez said. “It will be dif­fi­cult to achieve the things he’s said. Whether I was fight­ing for first or sec­ond, I was still fight­ing Vic. I am strong and ready for any­thing he has to offer. I expect him to come out aggres­sively, but if he decides to change and box, I am pre­pared. In the end, I will be the winner.”

In the end, the sport will ulti­mately be the win­ner, because for once, net­work exec­u­tives, pro­mot­ers and man­agers did the right thing. They put the best fights on they could, regard­less of con­se­quences, and were thus saved from a dis­as­trous conclusion.

For­get the appear­ance fights, where a star fights a noth­ing opponent.

Deepen the under­cards and put on fights beneath the main that could head­line a show just in a pinch.

Con­sis­tently strive to put on the best against the best, and reward the fight­ers who are will­ing to do so reg­u­larly with bet­ter pay, more expo­sure and bet­ter promotion.

And remem­ber, at the end of the day, it is all about the cus­tomers. Make the fans happy and the sport will thrive.

Related Posts:

• Georges St-Pierre Vs. Nick Diaz? Hur­dles Exist, but UFC Pres­i­dent Open to Idea
• Sports Bet­ting – Money Management
• Rank­ings: Youth Over Experience
• Darchinyan Beats Perez on Tech­ni­cal Decision
• Zubrus Is the Lat­est Devil to Step Up

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•