Perhaps the biggest Pro Boxing card that the Northwest has ever seen will take place this Saturday, December 11th, when Showtime Sports presents The Bantamweight Tournament: Winner Take All at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma. The 2-stage, single-elimination tournament will feature 4 of the world's best 118 pound boxers battling it out to see who is the best Bantamweight on the planet.

This Saturday the tournament begins with two Semifinal bouts, with the winners of these bouts facing each other in the tournament final early next year.

IBF Bantamweight Champion Yonnhy "El Colombiano" Perez (20-0-1, 14 KOs) will take on former IBF Champ Joseph King Kong Agbeko (27-2, 22 KOs).

Yonnhy "El Colombiano" Perez                       Joseph King Kong Agbeko   

The opening fight will have two-division world champion Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan (35-2-1, 27 KOs) battling undefeated Abner Mares (20-0-1, 13 KOs).

Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan                                     Abner Mares                 

Showtime Sports held a press conference at the Emerald Queen Casino's Bridge Nightclub on Thurs, Dec 9th, featuring all 4 fighters as well as the promoters who were able to come together to make this exciting tournament happen. This included legendary promoter Gary Shaw, the NW's own Brian Halquist, as well as reps from Don King Productions, Golden Boy Promotions, & Thompson Boxing Promotions.

        Gary Shaw                                                    Showtime's Chris DeBlasio

   Brian Halquist                                      EQC GM Frank Wright

Notable quotes from the fighters:

Joseph Agbeko: Saturday night is going to be war. It's not going to be anything less than a war. Yonnhy's strong, in good condition, well prepared. Same as me. So its going to be war.

Yonnhy Perez: I am very proud to be in this tournament... The winner of this tournament will become a very important fighter... There is only one thing I'm waiting for. The bell to go off Saturday night!

Vic Darchinyan: Mares is good. I've seen his fights. He's strong. He's fast. But on the night of the fight, I'll slow him. I'll take away his strengths. You will see a new Vic Darchinyan, hungry and motivated... 

Abner Mares: I'm just ready, the work is done... As bantamweights, we are fighters known to throw a lot of punches. We're known for making fights exciting.

NW Fightscene spoke to Brian Halquist and asked him how the show, which originally was scheduled to take place in Mexico, wound up in Tacoma.

Halquist: "Originally this was supposed to be in Mexico and they lost the site, and went to another Mexican city and lost the site. They went to California and lost that site, so like 15 days ago I got a call from Gary [Shaw] saying we're in a pinch. So I talked to Frank Wright, the GM [of the Emerald Queen Casino], and he was "lets do it". So we did it. 15 days, its amazing. The staff at the Emerald Queen is incredible."

"I think that this is the future of boxing. Guys have always sidestepped guys, and I figure to see promoters [in the future] working together to put together 4, 6, 8 of the best fighters and letting them fight to find out who's the best."

Showtime Sports presents The Bantamweight Tournament: Winner Take All this Sat, Dec 11th at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma. In addition to the two main bouts, there will be 5 undercard fights. The show starts at 5 PM local time with the undercard, with the main card starting at 6 PM and aired LIVE on SHOWTIME®

(9 p.m. ET/PT - delayed on the West Coast). Tickets are available at Ticketmaster. More info at emeraldqueen.com or halquistproductions.com.