Showtime Bantamweight Tourney Semi-final winners

Abner Mares & Joseph Agbeko

NW fight fans are lucky to have a promoter such as Brian Halquist up our way. Not only does he hold consistently entertaining Pro Boxing cards with his Battle at the Boat series, as well as regular all-pro MMA fight cards with CageSport MMA, his connections to the boxing world at large can pay huge dividends as well. Just two weeks before Showtime Sports was to present their much anticipated Bantamweight Tournament featuring four of the world's best 118 lb boxers, they found that they had no venue to do it at when the original site in Mexico wouldn't work. Famed promoter Gary Shaw then made a call to Halquist, Halquist talked with the Emerald Queen Casino, and just like that, a MONSTER fight card was coming to Tacoma.

Promoter Brian Halquist (r) with Abner Mares

The Showtime Bantamweight Tournament: Winner Take All had major promoters Gary Shaw Productions, Don King Productions, and Golden Boy Promotions all come together in order to pit 4 of the world's best against each other in a two-stage, single-elimination tourney. And the card and tournament certainly lived up to its high expectations for Showtime, the promoters, the fans watching live on Showtime, around the world, and of course those lucky enough to be inside the Emerald Queen Casino ballroom.

The first of the semifinal bouts of the tournament and the opening bout for the televised broadcast featured two-time division titlist Vic Darchinyan and undefeated rising star Abner Mares fighting it out for the IBO Bantamweight belt and the vacant WBC Silver Bantamweight belt. The fight went all 12 rounds and not once did the pace slow as both fighters displayed incredible conditioning. Darchinyan looked strong early, cutting Mares in the first round and dropping him in the 2nd. But Mares was stalwart, and despite a point deduction for a low blow, he came back with relentless shots to the body that visibly hurt Darchinyan. The final few rounds were hard fought, and at times down and dirty, and when it was all over Mares was given a narrow split decision victory and moves on to the finals of the tournament.

The 2nd semi-final bout was a rematch between IBF Bantamweight Champ Yonnhy Perez and the man he beat for the belt back in 2009, Joseph King Kong Agbeko. This fight too went the distance and was a highly entertaining affair to watch, though not as high paced nor as close as the first fight. Agbeko was able to control the early rounds with effective body shots and jabs while he moved in and out of range. Perez was able to lull Agbeko into his stand and trade game in the 6th, 7th, and 8th rounds, landing some big shots that got Agbeko's attention. But Agbeko went back to his gameplan in the late rounds, slipping Perez's punches while consistently landing his own. When the decision was read, it was no surprise that King Kong was the unanimous winner and with the victory he gets his IBF belt back and will be looking to capture Mares belts as well in the Tournament Finals some time next year.

5 additional fights took place on the undercard. The biggest of these featured former WBA Flyweight Champ Eric Morel taking on Mexican fighter Juan Jose Beltran in an 8 round Bantamweight battle. Both boxers entered the fight with 44 pro fights each to their name and the ring experience was evident from both. Morel looked fresh throughout, coming in and landing shots and then moving out of Beltran's range. Beltran never let up, charging forward and attempting to cut off the ring. But it was Morel's fight this night as he patiently wore down Beltran and in the end Morel took home a relatively lopsided unanimous decision win and moves to 44-2.

21 year old Rising star Chris Avalos out of Lancaster CA proved too much for veteran Mexican fighter Cecilio Santos in a 122 lb contest scheduled for 8 rounds. Speed, effective combos, and some huge body shots wore down Santos and after three rounds he was unable to continue for a fourth. With the win, Avalos moves to 18-1.

Undefeated Puerto Rican fighter Cesar Seda took on Ernie Marquez out of Fort Morgan CO for the NABO Bantamweight Title in a fight that was over almost as soon as it began. In an exchange, Marquez' right shoulder somehow separated and from that point he danced around the ring trying to avoid Seda as he was in some serious pain. The bout was halted and although Marquez pleaded to be able to fight on, it was obvious he could not and the TKO victory and the belt were given to Seda at just over 2 minutes into the first round.

In two early undercard bouts, Fred Tukes got two judges to see it his way for a split decision victory over Tim Hall in an entertaining 6 round Middleweight fight, while 

Jorge Espinoza beat Seattle's own Rob Diezel by Unanimous Decision after 4 rounds in the evening's opening fight.

Brian Halquist Productions and the Emerald Queen Casino have a busy 2011 on tap for NW fight fans with both their long running Battle at the Boat pro boxing series, and the newer but equally entertaining CageSport MMA series. The fun starts January 8th with Battle at the Boat 80, and then February 19th its the next CageSport MMA show. Learn more at halquistproductions.com and emeraldqueen.com.