According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, IBF Bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko collapsed earlier this week and is not cleared to fight this Saturday against Abner Mares in the finals of the Showtime Bantamweight tournament scheduled for Los Angeles.
Showtime boxing chief Ken Hershman was on a family vacation in Italy and had not yet made a decision on what would happen with Saturday’s card.
“Ken is aware of the situation and will come to a decision soon,” Showtime spokesman Chris DeBlasio told ESPN.com.
“I was picking him up at baggage claim and we walked outside to the car and he literally collapsed in the roadway right next to the car,” said Don King’s PR maven Alan Hopper. “He could barely move. He literally was face down on the pavement until the police and ambulance arrived.”
“He’s very disappointed. Despondent would be the word,” Hopper said. “He said when he was laying on the pavement and when I was checking on him, all he was saying was, ‘This can’t be happening, I have to fight on Saturday night. This can’t be happening.’ This is the biggest fight of his life and he is very, very upset and disappointed. He has worked really hard for this fight.”
Gary Shaw, who promotes Perez and Darchinyan, said he was hopeful Showtime would still go through with the card by bumping the consolation fight up to the main event. Both fighters have been on Showtime several times and usually have produced action-packed fights.
“Here is my guess — the fact that Showtime has everything in place and has their crew here, I think they will go through with it,” Shaw said.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who promotes Mares, also said he hoped the card would go on. Schaefer said although he had not yet heard from Hershman, he had his matchmakers looking for a substitute opponent for Mares to fight.
“Gary feels, and I agree with him, that the show should go on and we are currently trying to secure a replacement for Agbeko, but I don’t know how Showtime is going to react to that,” Schaefer said. “I think it’s unfair to the other fights to call of the show just because Agbeko is out. We’ll see.”
