# Yonnhy Pérez vs. Joseph Agbeko II

Yonnhy Pérez vs. Joseph Agbeko II was a professional boxing match contested on December 11, 2010, for the IBF bantamweight championship.

## Background

Four bantamweight boxers participated in The Bantamweight Tournament: Winner Takes All, one of the bouts being Yonnhy Pérez vs. Joseph Agbeko II. The tournament itself was a two-stage, single-elimination tournament of 118-pounders – which began with two semifinal bouts on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010, in the Battle at the Boat series from the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash.

### Build up

Rather than an immediate rematch with Pérez and Mares, Pérez faced Joseph Agbeko for the second time in the first round for his IBF, which he won from him, in Showtime's upcoming bantamweight tournament while Mares faces Vic Darchinyan. The winners of both fights will face each other sometime in early 2011.
They are barely unknown outside of boxing circles, fighting in a 118-pound division that rarely gets any attention. But they've all signed on for a single-elimination tournament in hopes of not only making a name for themselves, but also providing boxing fans with some exciting fights. The tournament originally was scheduled for Leon, Mexico, but Showtime did a site survey and realized that the cost for staging the event there - including security in a region that has been besieged by violence among the drug cartels - would be prohibitive. When no venue could be secured in Los Angeles, the event was moved to Tacoma, Wash. Pérez was the only current champion, (Vic Darchinyan was the IBO champion, but that organization lacks real recognition by the International Boxing Hall of Fame, other organizations, boxing magazines and fans) while Agbeko had held world titles and Mares was a top contender. They had a combined record of 102-4-3 with 76 knockouts before these two bouts.

## The fights

In the opening bout, undefeated, world-ranked rising star Abner Mares of Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico, faced two-division world champion Vic Darchinyan of Sydney, Australia, by way of Armenia.
In the main event, Pérez and Agbeko squared off against each other for the second time. They had fought a Fight of the Year candidate the previous October.

### Main Event

Rather than brawling as he had done in his first fight with Pérez, Agbeko chose to use his boxing skills and stiff jab to cruise to a unanimous decision victory, with the judges scoring it 116–112, 117-111 and 115–113.

## Aftermath

Agbeko was scheduled to take on Mares in the Bantamweight Tournament Final on April 23, 2011. However, Agbeko pulled out of the fight just days prior, citing an injury, and the fight was rescheduled for August 13 in Las Vegas.

## Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

### Televised

* Bantamweight bout: Yonnhy Pérez (c) vs. Joseph Agbeko
** Agbeko defeats Pérez via unanimous decision.
* Bantamweight bout: Vic Darchinyan (c) vs. Abner Mares
** Mares defeats Darchinyan via split decision.
* Super Flyweight bout: Cesar Seda vs. Ernie Marquez
** Seda defeats Marquez via TKO in round 1.
* Super Bantamweight bout: Chris Avalos vs. Cecilio Santos
** Avalos defeats Santos via RTD at 0:01 of round 4.

## Broadcasting

| Country | Broadcaster |
| United States | Showtime |