When Abner Mares and Joseph Agbeko met Aug. 13 in Las Vegas, their bantamweight title bout ended in a storm of controversy with Mares winning a 118-pound title. Now the rematch is on: Dec. 3 on Showtime at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer, who promotes Mares, told ESPN.com on Wednesday night.
Schaefer said he and Don King, Agbeko's promoter, along with Showtime, worked out a deal to avoid a purse bid that had been scheduled for Tuesday.
"We have finalized it," Schaefer said. "I'm thrilled about it. It's a much-anticipated rematch."
In addition, Schaefer said Anselmo Moreno, whom Golden Boy recently signed, will defend his version of the bantamweight title in Showtime's opening bout against slugger Vic Darchinyan, the former flyweight and bantamweight titlist and Showtime staple.
Mares, a Mexico native living in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., won a majority decision from Ghana's Agbeko in the first bout, but it was one of the most controversial fights of the year because of the heavily criticized performance of referee Russell Mora.
Mora called a questionable knockdown against two-time titleholder Agbeko in the first round when he went down on what looked like a slip. Mares also landed low blows repeatedly throughout the fight. Mora warned him for the infraction a few times, but never deducted any points -- and eventually stopped warning him altogether.
But the real controversy came in the 11th round when Mora clearly missed a call, ruling another knockdown against Agbeko (28-3, 22 KOs) after Mares had slugged him with yet another low blow, this one a left hand directly in the groin. The botched call changed what had been a likely 10-9 round for Agbeko to a 10-8 round for Mares.
Ultimately, Mares (22-0-1, 13 KOs) claimed the belt via majority decision on scores of 115-111, 115-111 and 113-113.
Mora's officiating was deemed so shoddy that the IBF, which sanctioned the fight -- the final in Showtime's four-man bantamweight tournament -- ordered an immediate rematch. Had it come to a purse bid, the IBF ordered that instead of the 75-25 split in favor of the titleholder (Mares), it would have been 50-50 to reflect the controversial nature of the result.
Vinny Scolpino, Agbeko's manager, said they were just pleased to get the deal done and get a another chance against Mares.
"I think Joseph goes back in there and beats Mares. He knows what he did wrong the first time and I think he'll take the title home," Scolpino said. "This is a great opportunity. I'm glad Showtime stepped up to the plate and made it happen. They needed to get some extra money for their budget, but they did the right thing. I'm happy that Joseph gets another opportunity to get his belt back. That's the bottom line, whatever happened in the first fight."
Mares' win made him the first fighter Golden Boy has promoted from his professional debut to a world title victory. Schaefer said he believes Mares is just beginning to blossom.
"I really think when it comes to this weight class that this is Abner Mares' time," Schaefer said. "When you watch him and how he has developed the last year or so, he has really developed into a top bantamweight. The first time he beat Agbeko it wasn't a fluke. He will confirm that and remain world champion in an impressive manner. That is what I expect from him. This is his time."
As soon as the rematch was ordered, Mares said he was willing to fight Agbeko again and did not waiver.
"Abner is looking forward to clearing up any doubt that took place in the first fight," Frank Espinoza, Mares' manager, said. "It's the right call for Abner and the right call for Agbeko. It's the right thing. Golden Boy and Team Mares just want to clear up any doubts in the rematch. Abner is excited and looking forward to starting training on Monday. These guys are both warriors. They will give a great fight again and please the fans."
Although the fight will go head-to-head with the high-profile rematch between junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito on HBO PPV from New York's Madison Square Garden, Schaefer said there will still be a lot of interest in the Mares-Agbeko rematch.
"Dec. 3 was the only date we had to work with so it is what it is, but this is a much-talked about rematch, especially in Los Angeles, and it will be a much covered event. The fact is that the first fight did well on Showtime and we think it will do well again. It is an event that stands on its own. In today's day and age, with the economy the way it is, I think that it is going to be a welcome gift from Showtime to boxing fans that they can see it without having to pull out their wallet."
Panama's Moreno (30-1-1, 11 KOs) signed with Golden Boy in August and will make the ninth defense of the belt he won via unanimous decision against Wladimir Sidorenko in May 2008. He is coming off an eighth-round TKO of former flyweight titlist Lorenzo Parra on June 17 in Panama.
Darchinyan (37-3-1, 27 KOs) lost a bloody split decision to Mares in December in the semifinals of the Showtime tournament but bounced back to win a dominant five-round technical decision against former titlist Yonnhy Perez in the April consolation match. On Sept. 3, Darchinyan won his second fight in a row. Although Darchinyan lives in Australia, he dreamed about fighting professionally in his birth country of Armenia and returned there to easily outpoint Evans Mbamba in the main event of the first pro card in the country's history.
"Moreno and Darchinyan, that's another interesting fight," Schaefer said. "You have two really exciting bantamweight fights on the same night, so I think it will do extremely well."
Dan Rafael covers boxing for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter.