Courtesy: ESPN
ESPN’s Friday Night Fights is back again this week with another big card. This week’s show is headlined by a bout between former Junior Lightweight and Featherweight title challenger Juan Carlos “Mini” Burgos (30 – 1 – 1, 20 KOs, ESPN.com ranked #4 Junior Lightweight) and Yakubu “The Black Mamba” Amidu (18 – 4 – 1, 16 KOs). The twelve-round fight comes to viewers live from the Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, California. It will be broadcast live at 9pm EST on ESPN2, WatchESPN, and broadband Spanish-Language ESPNDeportes+. ESPN Deportes will carry Friday’s show Saturday, July 27th at 9pm EST.
Burgos, a native of Mexico, comes into this week’s main event on the heels of a twelve-round fight against Roman Martinez that ended in a draw. The fight was a Junior Lightweight title fight. ESPN.com boxing writer Dan Rafael wrote of the bout, “Making his first defense, Martinez escaped with his belt on another highly debatable decision. Almost all of press row, as well as the Twitterverse and HBO’s Harold Lederman, had Burgos winning the fight. He hammered Martinez with hard body punches throughout the bout. According to CompuBox, Burgos landed more punches in 10 out of the 12 rounds. Burgos just seemed more in control, stronger and better able to do what he wanted to do. Martinez seemed to have a hard time dealing with his height and reach.”
Amidu also comes into this week’s main event looking to get back in the “Win” column after suffering a split-decision loss in his last fight, a ten-round bout against Haskell Rhodes. Amidu’s co-manager and trainer, Baba Sumaila, discussed expectations for this week’s fight in a recent interview, expressing his confidence in his fighter in his comments. “I’ve been working with Yakubu since he came to the United States,” he said. “I managed his brother, Abdullai. So when Yakubu came here, I started working with him. Yakubu is always training. When we have a fight, he increases the tempo to make him more ready for the fight. We know our opponent is very good, but we’re ready for that. We are ready.”
Friday’s main event will be accompanied by a ten-round co-feature between Lightweights Miguel “Silky Smooth” Gonzalez (21 – 3, 15 KOs) and Josenilson “Jo” Dos Santos (24 – 1, 14 KOs). Both fighters look to keep their “Win” column growing, coming into this week’s bout. Gonzalez’s most recent fight ended in a unanimous decision win for him in ten rounds over former Lightweight titlist Miguel Acosta. Dos Santos’ most recent match ended in a unanimous decision for him in a twelve-round fight against Carlos Rodriguez.
Teddy Atlas and Joe Tessitore will be on hand this week ringside to call all the action for ESPN2, while Todd Grisham will be in studio with all of the latest boxing news and highlights. Delvin Rodriguez, and Pablo Viruega will have the call for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Deportes+. Leopoldo Gonzalez and Claudia Trejos will be in studio and Bernardo Osuna will have live interviews and reports for ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Deportes+.
Fans of Friday Night Fights don’t have to be in attendance to be part of each week’s fight. Fans can get the LiveFriday Night Fights app on the FNF Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/espn.fnf. The app allows viewers to score the fights round-by-round from the comfort of their own home. And while they score the fights, fans can stay up with all of the latest FNF news and more on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ESPNFNF and http://twitter.com/ESPNBoxeo.
The latest Friday Night Fights schedule is listed below.
Upcoming Schedule:
| Date | Time (ET) | Main Event | Location | Networks | |
| Fri., Aug 2 | 9 p.m. | Javier Fortuna (22-0, 16 KOs) vs. Luis Franco (11-1, 7 KOs)—10 rounds, Featherweights | Buffalo Run Casino, Miami, Okla. | ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN | |
| Fri., Aug 9 | 10 p.m. | Rustam Nugaev (24-6-1, 14 KOs) vs. José Hernández (14-6-1, 6 KOs)—10 rounds, Lightweights | Morongo Casino, Cabazon, Calif. | ESPN2, ESPN ESPN Deportes+ , WatchESPN | |
| Fri., Aug 16 | 9 p.m. | Andrzej Fonfara (23-2, 13 KOs) vs. Gabriel Campillo (22-5-1, 9 KOs)—12 rounds, Light Heavyweights | U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago | ESPN2, ESPN ESPN Deportes+ , WatchESPN | |
| Fri., Aug 23 | TBD | Argenis Méndez (21-2, 11 KOs) vs. Arash Usmanee (20-1, 10 KOs)—12 rounds, Jr. Lightweights | Turning Stone Casino, Verona N.Y. | ESPN2, ESPN ESPN Deportes+ , WatchESPN | |
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