If only we had the late Don LaFontaine, the famed deep voice that boomed over all those movie trailers.
In a world... where Saturday night will be spent watching four of the best 118-pound fighters in the sweet science, Showtime is there to broadcast the action. Vic Darchinyan is The Raging Bull. Abner Mares is his challenger. Joseph Agbeko is King Kong. And Yonnhy Perez is there to attempt to shoot him down.
They star in the latest Star Wars extravaganza: The Bantamweight Menace.
And in a world... where Saturday night will also be spent watching HBO, particularly for its main event. Amir was a young man with fast hands but a questionable chin. Marcos Maidana was a man who waited all year to test that speed and that chin.
They star in the latest Star Trek extravaganza: The Wrath of Amir Khan.
Alas, we do not have LaFontaine, but we do have these previews of this weekend's action:
In actuality, Doug Fischer of RingTV.com, who's traveled from SoCal to Tacoma, Wash., to cover the Showtime card, sets the table for Agbeko-Perez as well as LaFontaine could have.
Yonnhy Perez and Joseph Agbeko fought a Fight of the Year candidate last October, and the bantamweight standouts will likely repeat their scintillating performance when they meet again in a rematch on Saturday on Showtime.
Perez-Agbeko II, one of the semifinal bouts of Showtime’s four-man bantamweight tournament, is a fight hardcore fans should be talking about but the buzz on the rematch is disappointingly low.
How can this be? The first fight, a title bout that Perez won by unanimous decision, was as good as boxing gets. Agbeko attacked with abandon in every round but Perez withstood the defending beltholder’s relentless volleys and fired back with controlled, accurate combinations. The unheralded Colombian eventually drew Agbeko into a furious inside battle, where he outworked the proud Ghanaian down the stretch of a thoroughly satisfying fight.
Fischer provides much, much more. Here's his article.
Tom Gerbasi of BoxingScene.com puts the spotlight on Vic Darchinyan:
“I’ve fought in 14 world title fights, he’s fought in one,” said the native of Vanadzor, Armenia. “I’m going to out-school him badly and prove to the whole world that I’m too good for him and anyone in this division. This fight is a mismatch. I am just too good for him.”
Mean. It has to be one of the first words that pop into your head when you look at Darchinyan’s eyes in the ring, at weigh-ins, press conferences, well, just about anywhere. For him, this is not a sporting event; it’s a sanctioned street fight, a brawl with rules, a way to settle a score that only he has in his head.
And that’s a gift, especially these days. Throughout boxing history, there have been numerous examples of the power of a mean streak. Stanley Ketchel, Harry Greb, Roberto Duran, Jake LaMotta, the young George Foreman, Sonny Liston, and Marvin Hagler, just to name a few. Sure, they fought to make a living, but you got the distinct impression that they would have done it for free just as ferociously.
We return to the aforementioned Fischer for his profile of Darchinyan's opponent, Abner Mares, and the story of why Mares trained at home instead of going to training camp.
As for the HBO card, Dan Rafael of ESPN.com talks to Amir Khan and his trainer, Freddie Roach, about how Khan has been able to rebuild his career since his stunning first-round knockout loss in 2008 to Breidis Prescott. Khan wilted under the pressure and power of Prescott. Why won't he do the same against Maidana? Here's Roach, via Rafael:
"He knows how to set things up now," Roach said. "He just doesn't go in there and look for a one-punch knockout. He knows how to break a person down, and he knows how to work behind his jab. He's just become a completely different fighter. We haven't lost a round since we've been together. I mean, we haven't lost one round."
But Maidana doesn't need to win rounds, according to Norm Frauenheim of 15rounds.com. He just needs to land the same punches that derailed Victor Ortiz, Frauenheim writes.
If this was a horse race, Maidana’s advertised chances Saturday night at Las Vegas Mandalay Bay would be about as good as a Clydesdale pulling a keg-filled wagon in six furlongs against Secretariat. It’s not. It is 12 rounds, thirty-six scheduled minutes and every second a chance for Maidana to unload a kick that damaged one prospect’s career with doubts that have yet to be eliminated.
Overlooked in this weekend's action is the HBO undercard featuring Victor Ortiz against Lamont Peterson.
Lem Satterfield of AOL Fanhouse describes Ortiz-Peterson as a fight for two prospects who still need to rebuild following losses to other top 140-pounders. Both Ortiz and Peterson chime in.
Please turn off your cell phones. Your feature presentations are set to begin.
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