It is the championship fight of the other Showtime tournament, the other being the “Super Six” Super Middleweight tournament that has brought a boxing fan to a brink with all the changes and fixtures that go along with a long and dragged out tournament. However, no matter how one views the Showtime concept of tournament boxing to determine who is number one, it seems this final bout with Agbeko has gathered interest and anticipation.

Because like the competitive and not so well publicized featherweight division, the bantamweights suffer the same dilemma. A boxing fan does not get to appreciate what they can do, that is, sustain interest and give some respectability to the sport.

“I love the tournament,” commented Agbeko (28-2, 22 KO’s) the native of Accra, Ghana who recaptured the IBF crown from Yonnnhy Perez in the semifinal round in November. It was the first loss for the (20-1-1) Perez who will be in the consolation bout opposing former two-division world champion, the 35-3-1, Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan.  It was Perez who remained undefeated in a close fight with Agbeko taking a unanimous decision in 2009.

This has been more of four of the best type of elimination determining the best that is brief and not cluttered. There were no problems with fighters pulling out, making weight, partly due to the limited top 10 names in the division that leaves little acclaim this division receives. “It gives a lot of exposure to the division and what we can do,” said Agbeko as he prepared for another workout close to home.

“The winner of this fight is the best bantamweight in the world,” he says with a heavy accent similar to welterweight contender Joshua Clottey. He and Clottey are from the same country, and also train together when possible, residing a few minutes apart in in the vicinity of Yankee Stadium which is in proximity to the old and revamped gym in the South Bronx.

The fight with Mares will be a test. The bantamweights can throw a lot of punches, have speed and offer some power.  The forum of being seen by millions on Showtime won’t hurt, and Agbeko, a Don King promoted fighter, with, a resounding win could put this division on the map. Though there are those in boxing who will never look at the bantamweight king as a division that propels the sport.

“That’s what they may say that we are not popular,” he says. “I feel happy to be in the final of the tournament. The only prediction that I know is that I am going to come out of the ring as the winner of the night. I’ve really prepared for Mares. I don’t know if he will take the strength and the skills I bring to the ring.”

Agbeko, 32-years old did not watch Mares defeat Darchinvan. It does not concern him claiming that the southpaw Darchinvan would offer nothing to study the possible next opponent. He goes about his business and depends on experienced advisor and cut man Len DeJesus and trainer Adama Addy.

They also have seen the talent that Agbeko brings to the ring. Addy, who has trained Agbeko 18 years, going back to their days in Ghana keeps his fighter in the Bronx to avoid distractions back home. “There is no girlfriend here,” he said with a laugh. But the serious business has been taking place in the gym with a realization that Agbeko will be considered an elite fighter if he indeed prevails over Mares.

“We have no particular style going into this fight,” he says. “With him (Agbeko) you don’t know. As for the question of how Agbeko can make the division more prominent, Addy commented “The power he has makes this division popular.”

Take that to the bank because power from guys coming in at 122 is something to admire.  Mares also can be dominant but may not offer the strength and power to his opponent. Though he did go down in the seventh from a Darchinyan punch to the body and came back to floor his opponent in the seventh with a vicious left that had Darchinyan dazed.

As for the ultimate question of moving to the ever more competitive featherweight division, Agbeko said he has no problem in taking another step. The money will never be huge in his division and there is a young champion Yuriorkis Gamboa taking charge at 126 and destined to be around a long time

To that he said, “I’m thinking of moving up to featherweight to take on the big guys. I’m thinking of Gamboa, Lopez (Juan Manuel) and I’m thinking about being in the league with them. After this fight, if I don’t get any good competition then I’m going to move to featherweight. I want to fight them I want to prove to the world that I’m the best.

And to many, Agbeko is the best, at least for now among the bantamweights.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

“JuanMa” Lopez (28-0, 25 KO’s) totally dominated and outmatched the skilled Steven Luevano to take away his WBO featherweight title in fantastic style. Lopez knocked out Luevano with a crushing right-left combo to floor Leuvano in the seventh round. Referee Benji Estevez stopped it at the :44 mark. In the co feature,  Gamboa (17-0, 15 KO’s) put on an fantastic performance in stopping Roger Mtagwa with a second round TKO at 2:35.

Lopez captured his second world title and hopes to one day match his idol, Felix ” Tito” Trinidad, accomplishment as the next great Puerto Rican fighter with four world titles. Trinidad was in the house and received the loudest cheer of the night from a crowd of about 5,000 in attendance at the Wamu theatre in Madison Square Garden. It was clear that Lopez’s power was too much for Luevano.

“We saw the video and we knew the right was there for me all night,” said Lopez.”I could feel I was landing it, and I was very surprised he took so many punches. He took a lot of punishment.”

Lopez nearly swept all the scorecards with one judge giving Luevano the 5th round. Lopez out-boxed him and hurt him repeatedly with straight left hands and quick hooks. Luevano was not able to use his counter punching skills as Lopez’s pressure was just too much.

JuanMa had a far easier time on Saturday night than the last time he fought at MSG. Lopez fought a life and death battle with Roger Mtagwa as he had to hold on for dear life in the final round to take the decision. He knew he had something to prove. I asked him what he thought was the difference from this fight than the Mtagwa fight.

“The difference was the four pounds and moving up in weight, said Lopez. ” I listened to my corner a lot more this time around. The last fight I did not listen to my corner as much I should have and stayed away from the gameplan. This time I was more discipline and it showed. I am still a work in progress and still improving.”

The turning point came when Lopez landed a great right that staggered the champion at the start of the seventh round. Leuvano backed up to the corner as he was badly hurt and Lopez went for the kill with the right hand and left hook combo for the knockout. As impressive as Lopez’s win was, Gamboa was the one that stole the show.

Gamboa had a far easier time with Roger Mtagwa than Lopez did. Gamboa retained his WBA featherweight title as he knocked Mtagwa twice in two rounds as referee Steve Smoger had seen enough and put a halt to the fight at 2:35 of the second round.

“I hope with this performance, no one compares me to JuanMa anymore,” Gamboa said. “We’re different fighters. I proved I’m Yuriorkis Gamboa.

From the sound of the opening bell, Gamboa used his blazing speed and power to totally take Mtagwa out of it. Landing some vicious left hooks in the 1st round, Gamboa knocked Mtagwa down toward the end of the first round with a left hand to the head.

Gamboa would not let Mtagwa breathe in Round 2 as he landed 38 of the 58 power shots he threw. Gamboa nailed Mtagwa with a power combination in the middle of the ring and then floored him with a right about halfway toward the round. Mtagwa and showed his heart as he tried to fight but Gamboa was too much as he would knock him down again and it was over.

” I came to demonstrate and become the best in my division, ” said Gamboa. I’d love for whoever the public or maybe the press considers the No. 1 featherweight, to have him in the ring for my next fight. That way I can show who is the best.”

With both guys victorious, the hope next would be a fight between the two but Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants to hold off a little longer.

“I want to sweep out the whole featherweight division first,” said Arum. I want both these guys to take all the guys in the division like Chris John and Caballero. All of them and I want to milk this up as much as possible. I want this to be the biggest money fight in the featherweight history. I owe it to both guys.”

Arum talks that the next time the two fight could be June with a split site doubleheader. Gamboa would fight in Miami while Lopez would fight in his native Puerto Rico. The mentioned names could potential matchups for each guy.

Earlier in the evening, Irish John Duddy improved his record to 27-1 with a first-round TKO of Juan Astorga. Duddy is one of the more popular New York fighters and continued to hold that clai. He would knock Astorga with a left hook to the body that knock him down to cause ref Wayne Kelly to stop the bout at 1:51.

With the victory, Duddy earns himself a spot on the undercard on the Pacquioa-Clottey undercard.

But first things first for Lopez and Gamboa as they both have their hands full with very formidable challengers. Lopez (27-0, 24 KO’s) moves up to Featherweight as he challenges the WBO champion, Steven Luevano(37-1-1, 15 KO). What Juan Ma will be dealing with, in Luevano, is a fighter making the eighth defense of his WBO title who possesses an innate counter-punching ability and by far is the most skilled boxer that Lopez has faced so far.

Luevano is not the most exciting fighter in the world as he doesn’t possess the great speed or power that many of the top boxers have. What he does have is a great boxing IQ and someone that Lopez should not look past.He is very skilled southpaw fighter who many feel will give Lopez a real run for his money.Luevano has been dominant in the Featherweight division for a while now and is in a position where the most competition he can get is by facing an explosive smaller fighter who is willing to move up and try his luck in the Featherweight division.It should be very interesting to see not only how Luevano deals with Lopez’s aggression but also how Lopez deals with Luevano’s smart, tactically sound boxing.

Lopez hopes that to have an easier time in this fight than his last one. If you remember, Juan Ma had to survive a life and death battle against Rogers Mtagwa (26-13-2, 18 KO’s), Gamboa’s opponent for Saturday. Mtagwa almost pulled the great upset as he rocked Lopez bad at the end of the 11th round and if the bell not sounded, a knockout loss was very possible for Lopez. Mtagwa pushed hard in the 12th round and came within seconds of winning the fight but Lopez held on to finish the fight and win a tough unanimous decision.

Despite all that, Lopez gained a great deal of experience in the fight and will come into his fight against Luevano as a smarter fighter. He needs to be that if he is going to win this fight.Hopefully, he has learned to close some of the openings he gave Mtagwa, because Luevano will be able to exploit them much more easily.

While Luevano will be a tough opponent, I expect Lopez to come out the victor.He is too fast, too strong, too dynamic, and too skilled for Luevano> I say it’s goes the distance with Lopez getting the decision.

In the other featured bout, Mtagwa hopes to take advantage of his great performance against Lopez as he gets a shot against the dynamic and undefeated top prospect, Yurikois Gamboa(16-0, 14 KO’s).

The current WBA featherweight champion is on a roll right now. He is coming off a dominant performance when he knocked out Whyber Garcia in the 4th round on the undercard of the Lopez/Mtawga fight. He has won his last six fights by knockout and will try to have an easier time with Mtawga than Lopez did.

While Gamboa might not have the best chin or defense in the world, he has amazing combination of speed and power .I think he will better than Juanma at avoiding Mtagwa’s unorthodox but powerful shots.Gamboa will go into this fight with something to prove as he probably thinks that he should be the one main eventing this card and not Lopez. In his last fight, Gamboa made his feelings known that he is the man.

“I don’t think Juan Manuel Lopez is better than me,” Gamboa said. “He’s not a challenge for me. If we fight, I will show that. I think I should be the one carrying the card with Lopez because I am a better fighter than him.”

Just like the Lopez-Luevano fight, this should be a good bout as well. However, Yuriorkis simply has too much talent to lose. Mtagwa will come to fight, just as he did against Lopez, but Gamboa is going to prevail with a knockout coming between Round 8-10.

But Lopez, (27-0, 24 KO’s) had his problems with Rogers Mtagwa (26-13, 3, 18KO’s) that had Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wondering, “I thought Lopez fought a stupid fight,” he said.  “He can’t fight a stupid fight against Gamboa. If he fights like that against Gamboa he’s done.”

And with those words, Arum may have been saying that Lopez has to take another fight before facing Gamboa in what could be a mega fight in the featherweight division with Lopez going up in weight .to 126. Gamboa, earlier did his job in disposing Whyber Garcia (22-7, 15KO’s) of Panama in the fourth round.

Mtagwa, ranked 15^th by the WBO, a relatively unknown fighter, took the last three rounds on two of three ringside cards of the judges, who scored it 115-111 and 116-111 for Lopez. Kevin Morgan gave Mtagwa the last six rounds though gave Lopez a 114-113 edge in the 12-round bout.

Lopez got the decision by winning the first part of the fight, but he took some punishment and was left staggering between the ropes in the 11^th round and if it weren’t for the ropes, Lopez would have went down.  In what could be classified as a fight of the year, the intensity of the fight continued in the 12^th and final round. Lopez continued to take punches and had nothing left as Mtagwa went for the knockout he didn’t get

The outcome was disappointing for Mtagwa who definitely made a name for himself. “Yeah, I won the fight,” he said.  “The first round I was really tired  He is not as strong as they say He gives good shots.. Yeah it was very close fight,” he said.  “Yeah I want a rematch.  I don’t believe I lost the fight.”

But that return bout may not occur immediately. Arum wants to put Lopez and Gamboa together, but first Lopez may have a date on HBO on January 23^rd in Puerto Rico. It will be Lopez against junior featherweight title holder Celestino Caballero or featherweight champions Steven Lueveno or Elio Rojas if purse arrangements can be made.

“Lopez has to fight a smarter fight than he fought,” claimed Arum who almost saw that eventual showdown with Gamboa go down the drain by the way his champion fought. “He let himself become vulnerable. He showed a lot of heart though.”  The stat of the night though was Mtagwa having a distinct edge in power shots landed, 62-34, in the last two rounds.

Lopez, who knocked down Mtagwa briefly in the first round realized it was going to be a tough evening after that.  “That guy was very strong,” he said through interpreter Ricardo Jimenez.  “I tried hitting him but he is a very strong guy. He added “Sometimes it is very difficult to fight guys like this. They have nothing to lose… He is a strong guy even in the last round he was coming after me.”

Lopez is in the second year of his title reign after dethroning defending champion Daniel Ponce De Leon via a first round knockout last June. He has successfully defended his title four times since, all by knockout and is billed to be the next exciting fighter out of Puerto Rico, of course next to WBO welterweight champion Cotto.  .

Gomboa remained undefeated (16-0, 14K0’S) easily dominating WBA 13^th ranked Whyber Garcia (22-7 15 KO’s) of Panama City Panama. Garcia had won four of his last five fights. The loss was for the world title against WBA super featherweight champion Jorge Linares last year.

Garcia could not match the punches of Gamboa which included a barrage of left and rights in round four.  The stoppage came at 0:58 of the round when referee Steve Smoga stepped in and stopped the bout.

“It’s one of my strategies to study the fighter and settle in,” said Gamboa who used that strategy well from the opening bell in round one. As for Garcia not coming into him, a type of fight that Gamboa likes to fight, he stated, “I definitely like when men come into me. It is better for my counter punches,”

The early stoppage showed what type of fighter Gamboa is. His punches were effective and strong which prevented Garcia from throwing anything strong at Gamboa. “At the end of the second round I knew I was going to knock him out quick,” he said.

The anticipated fight though would be for Lopez to unify the title .against Lopez, a fight that could happen early next year. “A lot of people ask me the same question I want to prove what is best for me,” responded Gamboa when asked about an opportunity to meet Lopez.

“I didn’t think Lopez is better than me,” he said. “I don’t need a warm up fight. I am ready for him. I expect to get better than this.  But winning by knockout at the Garden there is nothing like it.  I should be carrying the card over Lopez because I’m better.”

During the week Gamboa commented about making his debut at the Garden. He said winning the fight convincingly is what was needed to be done in order to accomplish the goal of meeting Lopez soon. And just being in The Garden meant he achieved his goals.

He commented about leaving his country and pursuing his goal of becoming a world champion. “It was a big risk for me to leave and take the stuff that I took, leaving not only the boxing team but my country. It goes on to prove that if I seat a goal I can accomplish it.”

On the under card John Duddy (27-1, 17KO’s) made a successful return to The Garden and got the unanimous decision over Jorge Munoz (21-4, 13KO’s) of Topeka, Kansas. Duddy at times let his opponent come at him and was able to use counter punches and scored points with the judges.

In a 10-round heavyweight bout the veteran, 38-year old Monte Barrett (34-8, 24KO’s) of Queens, New York became an easy victim of undefeated Cuban sensation Odlanier Solis (15-0, 11KO’s.)  Solis pounded Barrett early and put Barrett on the canvas with a quick left hook in the second round .and got the TKO.

And welterweight Omar Chaez, the son of former legendary champion Julio Cesar Chavez remained undefeated (18-0-1 13 KO’s) getting the six-round unanimous decision over (7-10-1) James Ventry.

E-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com