David Morrell Jr. has a familiar opponent for his next fight.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the unbeaten Cuban southpaw will oppose Sena Agbeko in a 12-round, 168-pound title fight December 16 at The Armory in Minneapolis. The WBA world super middleweight championship bout between Morrell (9-0, 8 KOs) and Agbeko (28-2, 22 KOs) will be the final main event Showtime will air as part of its long-running “Showtime Championship Boxing” series.
Paramount Global, the parent company of Showtime and BoxingScene.com, announced October 17 that it will close its Showtime Sports department December 29. The network won’t broadcast boxing following this December 16 tripleheader, which will end the premium cable network’s 37-year run as one of the sport’s most prominent American television partners.
Morrell, 25, and Agbeko, 31, were scheduled to fight April 22 on the Showtime Pay-Per-View portion of the Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia undercard at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Ghana’s Agbeko was removed from that bout because the Nevada State Athletic Commission wouldn’t approve him for licensure due to a brain abnormality detected during a magnetic resonance imaging exam.
The hard-hitting, skillful Morrell instead demolished late replacement Yamaguchi Falcao (24-2-1, 10 KOs) in the first round April 22. Morrell dropped Brazil’s Falcao twice before their scheduled 12-rounder was stopped just 2:22 into it.
Dmitriy Salita, Agbeko’s promoter, petitioned the NSAC thereafter to license Agbeko once he was cleared by a neurologist. Agbeko received his Nevada license in May and is approved to compete in Minnesota.
The Nashville-based Agbeko has been very vocal about wanting to reschedule his fight with Morrell. He turned down the initial financial offer to meet Morrell next month, but the two sides came to an agreement Tuesday night.
Agbeko has won five fights in a row since Russian contender Vladimir Shishkin (15-0, 9 KOs) defeated him by unanimous decision in their 10-rounder in February 2021 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. He was especially impressive when Agbeko upset previously unbeaten prospect Isaiah Steen (16-2, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 10-rounder in October 2022 at Bally’s in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Big Fight Weekend’s Dan Rafael first reported Tuesday afternoon on X that Agbeko would likely be Morrell’s opponent December 16.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.