Former world champion AUSTIN “No Doubt” TROUT returns to battle against two-time world title challenger DANIEL “The Rock” DAWSON in the main event on ESPN Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra™ from the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California on Friday, August 22nd it was announced today by Dan Goossen.
The Trout-Dawson fight will be televised live on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and WatchESPN beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. The event is promoted by Goossen Promotions.
Advance tickets starting at $50 can be purchased through the Pechanga Resort and Casino website, www.Pechanga.com or by calling 1-877-711-2946. Doors on the night of the event will open at 4:30 p.m. with the first bell at 6:00 p.m.
“We’re very excited to bring this outstanding main event battle between Austin Trout and Daniel Dawson to the beautiful Pechanga Resort and Casino” said Goossen. “Pechanga has been one of the premier resorts and casino in California for many years and it’s nice to bring a world-class event back to their great fans and our worldwide ESPN audience.”
Said Brian Kweder, Senior Director of Programming and Acquisitions for ESPN,
“We wanted to cap off a great season of Friday Night Fights for our fans by closing out an exciting year with former world champion Austin Trout who returns to action on ESPN2 in this special main event bout.”
Coming off his only two losses in 2013, and dealing with the death of his beloved grandmother (on his wedding day), Trout, long considered one of the top 154 pound fighters in the world, puts himself right back into position in regaining his championship belt with a win over the determined Dawson.
“Between the rest, dealing with everything from last year, I’m ready to get back to work,” said Trout. “I’m ready to get back to the top.”
Fighting out of Las Cruces, New Mexico, trained by Louie Burke and advised by Al Haymon, the 28-year-old Trout, 26-2-0 (14 KOs), won the vacant World Boxing Association (‘WBA’) Junior Middleweight World Title against Rigoberto Alvarez, Canelo Alvarez’s brother on February 5, 2011.
With four title defenses, including a memorable performance against future Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto in December 2011 at Madison Square Garden, Trout solidified himself as one of the sport’s brightest and best young stars.
In his next bout, one of boxing biggest events in decades, Trout battled popular top Mexican contender Canelo Alvarez on April 20, 2013 in front of 40,000 fight fans at The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Fighting valiantly against the aggressive Alvarez, Trout lost a very close, hard fought decision.
The 36-year-old Dawson, 40-3-1 (26 KO’s), trained by Bobby Mayne, has spent almost his entire career in his native Australia as one of the country’s most popular fighters.
Dawson, seeking to make a statement Miguel Cotto couldn’t do against Trout, is coming over from his native Australia, where he’s undefeated over the last four years, to do it.
Dawson simply said, “It’s an opportunity that I’ve worked very, very hard to get back to and I believe we can take this victory back home to Australia.”
In his only appearance in the United States, Dawson challenged then World Boxing Organization (‘WBO’) Champion, Sergey Dzinziruk in May 2010 in Santa Ynez, California.
Fighting evenly through the first nine rounds, despite the fact he took the fight on less than 2 weeks notice, Dawson succumbed to a barrage of punches and was eventually stopped by Dzinziruk in the tenth round.
Undefeated in his last seven bouts, Dawson won a 12-round unanimous decision over perennial contender Alex Bunema on September 20, 2013 in his hometown of Perth, Australia.
Additional bouts completing a sensational fight card will be announced shortly.
