David Morrell Jr., Sena Agbeko face off at Armory in Showtime's final televised boxing card

Showtime Championship Boxing debuted in March 1986 and outlasted HBO, its cable rival, by five years in the sport. Showtime announced two months ago that it also would be leaving boxing, with its last televised card for Premier Boxing Champions being held this Saturday night at the Minneapolis Armory.

The led to Jimmy Lennon, the great voice of ring announcing, to appear at Friday's weigh-in for combatants inside a jammed meeting room at the W Hotel in Minneapolis and state this card would be known as "The Grand Finale" in the long, eventful history of boxing on Showtime.

The crowd inside the room certainly did not disappoint, offering robust enthusiasm for their favorites and blunt shouts as to the misery that would befall their opponents.

The main eventers — David Morrell Jr., the adopted Minneapolis favorite, and knockout specialist Sena Agbeko, aka "the African Assassin," as Lennon informed — were last to weigh-in and then hold the stare-down.

"Short night for Mr. Agbeko," a Morrell backer near the stage said loud enough to be heard, and then repeating … "short night, short night."

They will be fighting for a WBA Super Middleweight title, which Morrell has taken in his grasp in only nine professional fights since defecting from Cuba at age 21, after an dominant amateur career.

"It is a great honor to be fighting in the main event on Showtime's final event, especially at the Armory which I call home," Morrell has been quoted as saying in promotion of this fight.

Morrell also contended he had been asking for Agbeko as an opponent, since the Nashville-based Ghanan had claimed Morrell was avoiding him.

There's always an angle to be offered, and that's as good as any. The real story on Saturday night is that Morrell needs to take care of Agbeko (28-2, with 22 KOs) to set up his first huge money fight.

The Morrell camp insists David was supposed to be fighting David Benavidez in November in Las Vegas, then the latter's father and trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr., cancelled, saying he was going to let Morrell "marinate" for a while.

David Benavidez fought Demetrius Andrade on Nov. 25 in a pay-per-view fight that did horrible business. The expectation is that if Morrell wins Saturday, a fight with Benavidez will take place in a few months — probably in Las Vegas.

The Benavidez father happens to be here as the trainer for Jose Valenzuela, meeting Chris Colbert in a co-main event for lightweight contenders. Jose Sr.'s presence has given the Morrell camp face-to-face time to work on getting a commitment for a Benavidez-Morrell fight.

Of course, there is one obstacle: Agbeko's knockout ability.

A "short night" in the wrong way would be a serious detour in the well-made plans for Morrell's ascent to stardom — and on Amazon Prime, which will be taking over for Showtime in 2024 as the home for Premier Boxing Champions.