Saying Goodbye to “Friday Night Fights”

By Boxing News - 05/22/2015 - Comments

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By Michael Montero: Tonight ESPN Boxing will air its final “Friday Night Fights” card as they present their Boxicino tournament finals live from Corona, California. The series, which began in 1998 soon after the demise of the USA Network’s “Tuesday Night Fights” series, has been a stable for boxing fans for nearly two decades.

Over the years we’ve tuned in every Friday night to watch prospects grow up before our eyes, hype-jobs get exposed, faded veterans go for one last shot at glory, and of course, Teddy Atlas go on tirades regarding the black eyes of the sport. Indeed, tonight will be a somber affair as we bid goodbye to favorite among boxing diehards.

In the Boxcino heavyweight finale, Russian native Andrey Fedosov (27-3, 22KO) takes on American southpaw Donovan Dennis (12-1, 10KO), who is coming off a highlight reel knockout win in the semifinals. The Russian is much more experienced, having gone pro almost a decade before Dennis (2003 and 2012, respectively). Fedosov brings a physiological edge as hell, having scored a 1st round KO over Nat Heaven – the man who stopped Dennis in his only professional loss – in the quarterfinals. All that being said, the American is taller, longer, fresher and beaming with confidence. This should be a fun bout.

The Boxcino junior middleweight finale is a battle of America, east and west, as Los Angeles native Brandon Adams (17-1, 12KO) faces John Thompson (16-1, 5KO), of Newark, New Jersey. The 26 year-old Thompson was stopped in his only professional loss just last year and struggled at times in the Boxcino semis against Stanyslav Skorokhod, whom he beat by split decision. For Adams, tonight will be a case of “been there, done that”, as his lone professional defeat came in the 2014 Boxcino finale against Willie Monroe Jr, at middleweight. Now fighting at 154 pounds, Adams has looked stronger and coasted through the tournament. Even though Thompson brings a notable height advantage into the ring tonight (6’1” to 5’9”), Adams has the clear power edge (12 stoppages to 5) and is the betting favorite.

As “Friday Night Fights” comes to a close, Al Haymon and his “Premiere Boxing Champions” series takes over. Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas will remain on the crew of the new series, but the cards will be monthly instead of weekly, and Saturday night instead of Friday night. Will the “PBC” on ESPN enjoy the same long-running success that “FNF” did? Only time will tell.

Questions, comments, hate mail – you know what to do.
Twitter/Instagram/Facebook: @MonteroOnBoxing



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