ESPN’s FNF Kicks Off Its 18th Season With A Bang

Courtesy: ESPN

ESPN’s Friday Night Fights and Noche de Combates returns next week with a whole new season of fights.

The eighteenth season of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra kicks off next Friday, January 9th live at 9pm ET live on ESPN2. Season Eighteen kicks off with a twelve round Lightweight showdown that will have World Title implications. WBA ranked #1 Lightweight Darley’s Perez ( 31 – 1, 20 KOs) will take on Jonathan Maicelo (21 – 1, 12 KOs) live at Chumash Resort and Casino in Santa Ynez, California. The winner of the fight will be next in line to face WBA World Champion Richar Abril.

Along with its massive main event, Friday night’s broadcast will also feature a ten round co-feature featuring up-and-coming welterweight contender Francisco Santana (21 – 3 – 1, 10 KOs). ESPN’s Spanish-speaking audiences will be able to catch both matches on ESPN Deportes’ Noche de Combates por Corona Extra at 10:30pm ET. It will also be carried online via ESPN’s broadband Spanish-language service ESPN Deportes+. Friday’s event is promoted by Gary Shaw productions. The remaining schedule of fights for January is listed below.

Date	Time (ET)	Main Event	Location	Networks
Fri, Jan 9	9 p.m.	Darleys Pérez (31-1, 20 KOs)  vs. Jonathan Maicelo (21-1, 12 KOs) —12 rounds, for the WBA #1 Ranking at Lightweight	Chumash Resort and Casino, Santa Ynez, Calif.	ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN
Fri, Jan 16	9 p.m.	Willie Monroe Jr. (18-1, 6 KOs) vs. Brian Vera (23-8, 14 KOs) —  10 rounds, Middleweights; Petr Petrov (35-4-2, 7 KOs) vs. TBD – 10 rounds, Lightweights	Turning Stone Resort and Casino, Verona N.Y.	ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN
Fri, Jan 30	9 p.m.	Karl Dargan (17-0, 9 KOs) vs. Tony Luis (18-2, 7 KOs) —10 rounds, Lightweights	Foxwoods Resort and Casino, Mashantucket, Conn.	ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

 

 

Next week’s season premiere of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra and ESPN Deportes’ Noche de Combates por Corona Extra is just part of what boxing fans have to look forward to during these cold winter months. Fans will also see the return of the Boxcino Tournament next month. The single-elimination, two-weight class tournament kicks off Friday, February 3^rd at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT. It will be broadcast on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+ and WatchESPN. It will feature eight fighters in both the junior middleweight and heavyweight divisions and will be part of the Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra and Noche de Combates por Corona Extra 2015 broadcast schedule. The complete schedule for th e2015 Boxcino Tournament is listed below.

Date	Time (ET)	Main Event	Location	Networks
Fri, Feb  13	9 p.m.	Boxcino 2015 Quarterfinals- Junior Middleweight	Mohegan Sun, Uncasville,  Conn.	ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN
Fri, Feb 20	9 p.m.	Boxcino 2015 Quarterfinals- Heavyweight	Turning Stone Resort and Casino, Verona N.Y.	ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN
Fri, Apr 3	9 p.m.	Boxcino 2015 Semifinals- Junior Middleweight	TBD	ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN
Fri, Apr 10	9p.m.	Boxcino 2015 Semifinals- Heavyweight	Turning Stone Resort and Casino, Verona N.Y.	ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN
Fri, May 22	9 p.m.	Boxcino 2015 Finals- Junior Middleweight and Heavyweight	Turning Stone Resort and Casino, Verona N.Y.	ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN

As with last year’s season of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra and ESPN Deportes’ Noche de Combates por Corona Extra, fans can once again follow the matches and score them round-by-round themselves online thanks to ESPN’s “Live Friday Night Fights Facebook Voting App.” Fans can download the app online via the official Friday Night Fights Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/espn.fnf

Joe Tessitore will be back at ringside alongside analyst Teddy Atlas once again this season. The duo will be joined at ringside this week by Todd Grisham. When he is not at ringside with Tessitore and Atlas, Grisham will have all of the latest boxing news and highlights live from the ESPN Studios throughout the season. Delvin Rodriguez will have the call for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Deportes+. He will be joined ringside by Pablo Viruega. Leopoldo Gonzalez and Claudia Trejos will both return as co-hosts from the ESPN studios. Hall of fame ref Joe Cortez will make special appearances throughout the season with additional insight and analysis. Bernardo Osuna will also be back this season. He will have all of the latest reports and interviews for both ESPN and ESPN Deportes each week.

ESPN’s Spanish-Speaking viewers will get even more boxing coverage this season as ESPN Deportes’ will Golpe a Golpe returns, too. The weekly hour-long boxing news and analysis broadcast will be back every Saturday at 4pm. Juan Manuel Marquez and Jorge Eduardo Sanchez will share hosting duties. And on Monday’s Bernardo Osuna and David Faitelson will co-host A Los Golpes at 7:30pm. They will be joined by analyst Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.

More information on this season of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra and ESPN Deportes’ Noche de Combates por Corona Extra is available online now at:

Website: http://www.espn.com/boxing

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/espn.fnf

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ESPNFNF

              http://twitter.com/ESPNBoxeo

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

Lightweights Lead Second FNF Broadcast Of August

Courtesy: ESPN

Tonight’s edition of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights leads off with a Lightweight division fight.  Lightweights Rustam “The Mongoose” Nugaev (24 – 6, 14 KOs) will take on Jose “EL Loco” Hernandez (14 – 6 – 1, 6 KOs) in the night’s main event.  The pair will face off in a ten-round bout live from the Morongo Casino Resort in Cabazon, California at 10pm ET.  Tonight’s fight will be broadcast live on cable on ESPN2 and online via WatchESPN and broadband Spanish-language ESPN Deportes+.  ESPN Deportes will carry the fight on TV via tape delay Saturday night at 6pm.

Nugaev, a California native, comes into tonight’s fight on the heels of a fourth-round KO win over Daniel Attah.  The fight preceding his match against Attah ended in an eighth-round KO over previously undefeated Jonathan Maicelo.  ESPN.com boxing writer Dan Rafael wrote of the fight, “Nugaev wound up scoring a highlight-reel upset knockout over Maicelo. Nugaev and Maicelo fought a good, competitive, toe-to-toe slugfest that came to an abrupt end when Nugaev caught Maicelo with a clean and powerful right hand that dropped him face-first before he rolled over on his back.”

Hernandez is also looking to improve his “W” column.  He comes into tonight’s fight after having taking down previously undefeated Tony Luis in an eighth-round TKO.  Despite this win under his belt, Hernandez’s trainer, Richard Best, was not about to take tonight’s fight lightly.  “The first thing that comes to mind with this guy we’re fighting (Nugaev) is that he’s tough,” Best said.  “You can see in his fights that he tries to wear his opponents down with pressure. He’s a tall guy, and comes in forward. He’s not too technical, but we are not underestimating him.”

Before the bell rings for the main event, audiences will also get to see undefeated Junior Lightweight Jose “The Sniper” Pedraza (13 – 0, 9 KOs) face off against Gabriel “The Ghost” Tolmajyan (13 -2 – 1, 3 KOs).   Pedraza won his most recent fight with a seventh-round TKO over Sergio Villenueva.  Tolmajyan also comes into tonight’s fight with a win in his most recent fight.  He defeated previously undefeated Jorge Maysonet, Jr. in an eight-round unanimous decision.

The team of Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas will be ringside to call all of the action tonight, while Todd Grisham will be in studio with all of the latest boxing news and highlights for ESPN2.  Alejandro Pombo fills in tonight for Delvin Rodriguez.  He will have the call tonight for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Deportes+ alongside Pablo Viruega.  Leopoldo Gonzalez and Claudia Trejos will be in studio. Bernardo Osuna will have live interviews and reports.  Fans can keep up with all of the latest Friday Night Fights news online via Twitter and Facebook at http://twitter.com/ESPNFNF and http://www.facebook.com/espn.fnf.  While at the Friday Night Fights Facebook page, audiences can get the Live Friday Night Fights Facebook Voting app.  The app lets viewers score the fights themselves round-by-round, from the comfort of their own homes.  Spanish speaking audiences can keep up with FNF on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ESPNBoxeo.

Tonight’s card is sponsored by Corona Extra and promoted by Gary Shaw Productions.  The most current Friday Night Fights schedule is available below.

Upcoming Schedule:

 

Date	Time (ET)	Main Event	Location		Networks
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 Deportes+, WatchESPN
Fri., Aug 23	9 p.m.	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 Deportes+, WatchESPN

 

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.