ESPN’s Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra will originate from New York City, on July 15 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN3.com when former welterweight world title challenger Delvin Rodriguez (25-5-2, 14 KOs) and Ring Magazine’s No.7-ranked junior middleweight Pawel “Raging Bull” Wolak (29-1, 19 KOs) meet in the 10-round main event.
Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas will be ringside at the Roseland Ballroom describing the action, while studio host Brian Kenny will present all the latest boxing news and highlights. The card is presented by Star Boxing.
Danbury, Conn.’s Rodriguez will look to rebound after a 10-round majority decision loss to Ashley Theophane in his last fight. After the fight, ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael wrote, “Rodriguez has been on the wrong end of some questionable decisions, but this one takes the cake, as he was robbed in the Friday Night Fights main event to fall to 2-3-1 in his past six bouts. Rodriguez totally dominated the first half of the fight. Although Theophane won some of the late rounds as Rodriguez began to tire, there is no way he won six rounds. None.”
Rodriguez said of Friday’s fight, “It’s going to be one of the best fights on ESPN. It’s going to be a boxer against a brawler – Wolak’s going to be coming all night, and it’s going to make a great fight. I’m going to go in there, box him, put on a good show, and come out with the victory.”
Rockaway N.J.’s Wolak has won his last eight fights, five by knockout, including a career-best sixth-round TKO win over former World Boxing Association (WBA) super welterweight world titlist Yuri Foreman in his last fight in March. After that fight, Rafael wrote, “Wolak is a hard-charging, action fighter who scored a career-best victory in this dominant performance against former titleholder Foreman. Wolak won every round on all three scorecards. He dished out such a beating on Foreman, especially during the fifth and sixth rounds, that Foreman’s corner called off the fight after the sixth round.”
Friday’s card will also feature undefeated welterweight Raymond “Tito” Serrano (15-0, 8 KOs) against New York State welterweight champion Daniel “The Hudson Valley Kid” Sostre (11-3-1, 4 KOs). Philadelphia’s Serrano is coming off a first-round TKO win over Corey Alarcon, while New York City’s Sostre is coming off an eight-round draw against Damian Frias.
THIS WEEK ON GFL COMBAT SPORTS NETWORK
– Friday, July 15, 2011 7:30pm ET Featuring Rosado vs Conyers from Bally’s Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. Hard-hitting Allen Conyers, of the Bronx, NY, steps in for the injured Harry Joe Yorgey when he takes on Gabriel Rosado, of Philadelphia, PA, in the scheduled 10-round junior middleweight main event Friday evening, July 15, at Bally’s Atlantic City.
Yorgey, of Bridgeport, PA, sustained a shoulder injury in training and will be out of action for three months. Conyers, 35, is known as the ‘Dream Shatterer’ for his record of derailing the careers of several promising fighters. Earlier this year, he shattered the 20-0 record of James De La Rosa when he scored three knockdowns and a unanimous 10-round decision over the Texas prospect at the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI, on the Timothy Bradley vs. Devon Alexander card. In one three-fight stretch, Conyers scored knockouts over Jonathan Tubbs (7-1-1 at the time), of Rochester, NY, Russell Jordan (12-3), also of Rochester, NY, and Derek Ennis (10-0-1), of Philadelphia, PA. Conyers is dangerous early, having K0d Tubbs and Jordan each in the first round and Ennis in the second. By comparison, Rosado lost a 12-round decision to Ennis last summer for the USBA junior MW title.
– Friday, July 15, 2011 9:00pm ET featuring Chicago Fight Night II at the Club, Burbank, Illinois. Former world Super Lightweight champion Vivian Harris (29-6-1, 19 KO’s) will take on Lanardo Tyner (24-4, 15 KO’s) in a twelve round bout for the USBO Welterweight belt. Harris of Brooklyn, New York won his first sixteen fights and established himself as one of the prospects in the country. After suffering his first professional loss and a draw to Ivan Robinson, Harris ripped off nine straights wins which included his world title winning effort when he knocked out Diobelys Hurtado to win the WBA Super Lightweight title. Harris was upset by Carlos Maussa on the Arturo Gatti – Floyd Mayweather undercard on June 25, 2005. Harris won three straight over former Lightweight champion Stevie Johnston and world title challenger Juan Lazcano which set up a title shot against WBC champion Junior Witter. Harris is desperate for a win as he has dropped three in a row including being stopped by Lucas Matthysse; currant WBC Welterweight champion Victor Ortiz and his last bout to undefeated prospect Jesse Vargas.Tyner of Houston, Texas won his first nineteen bouts before dropping fights to former world title challengers Mike Arnaoutis and Lamont Peterson. Tyner also lasted the distance before losing a twelve round unanimous decision to future WBC Super Welterweight champion Saul Alvarez.
– Saturday, July 16, 2011 7:30pm ET featuring Absolute Action MMA 16 at the Midwest Sports Complex, Florence, KY. In one of the featured bouts, Nicholas Noe (5-3) battles Oleg Nesenchuk (3-1) in a lightweight battle with future title implications at stake. The Ohio native, Noe, is coming off of a first round victory in his last fight just a month ago in which he suffered no injuries and looks to keep the momentum going against Nesenchuk. For Nesenchuk, who is riding a 3-fight win streak, and also coming off of a first round submission victory at Absolute Action XV only a month ago, he will try to impose his will and get another tapout. Both men have quickly cut out a road map to the Absolute Action lightweight title, but only one can move a step further after this bout. In another featured contest, middleweights Brandon Scott (1-0) and Michael Dabe (6-3) hook up in a fight many are expecting to be fight of the night. Scott has tremendous power in both hands as evidence of his 16 second KO victory earlier this year. Dabe is coming off of a triangle choke submission victory himself and will look to use his experience to take Scott into deep waters and wear him out later in the fight. In other action, Pieter Van Zijl (3-1) battles Deric Reese (3-3) in a fight that fans have been clamoring for. Upstart Bill Underwood (2-2) takes on Casey Elkins (0-0) in a middleweight shootout while Derrick “Lionheart” Weisenberger (2-1) will also be in action. There is also going to be 3 female fights, which are always crowd pleasing, with the popular Sarah Cook (2-3) in the mix.
– Saturday, July 16, 2011 7:30pm ET featuring Carla Hill Presents Boardwalk Boxing from the Resorts Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, NJ. The event will be held July 16, 2011. Derric Rossy (25-4-0) of Medford, NY will take on Maurice Harris (24-15-2) of East Orange, New Jersey, in the main event for the IBF sanctioned USBA Heavyweight title. Not only are they fighting for the title but it is very rare to have two world rated heavyweights fighting each other which makes for an impressive and exciting evening of championship boxing. The card will be filled with electrifying local talent. Such as Super Middleweight Troy Maxwell (2-2-0) of Galloway, NJ, Bantam Weight Qa’id Muhammad (5-0-0) of Atlantic City, NJ and Light Heavy Weight Lavarn Harvell (7-0-0) of AC, NJ.
– Saturday, July 16, 2011 8:00pm ET featuring Walter Johnson Promotions brings World Championship Boxing back to the Greensboro Coliseum Special Event Center. The event features a 10 Round Bout for the Vacant UNBC Super Middleweight World Championship. Scott Sigmoin 16-2 (9KO’s) of Jefferson, VA., will take on undefeated Chris Fitzpatrick 13-0 (7KO’s) of Columbia, SC. This bout has war written all over it as neither man has much like for the other. Both men have promised knockouts and both are training extremely hard for this bout. In the first of 2 co-feature bouts undefeated Fayetteville Middleweight Lamar Russ 7-0 (5KO’s) steps up in class and takes on George Rivera 13-6 (4KO’s) of Fairfax, VA in an 8 round bout. Both men are coming off impressive victories in their last bouts and are looking to keep the momentum rolling. In the second co-feature bout Joey Hernandez 18-1 (10KO’s) of Puerto Rico takes on former WBC America’s Champ Robert Kamya 20-10 (5KO’s) of Kampala, Uganda in what promises to be a shootout. The undercard is packed with exciting bouts featuring Heavyweight sensation Elijah McCall 7-1 (7KO’s) who also happens to be the son of former Heavyweight Champion Oliver McCall Jr. Middleweight Contender Jamie ‘ShotGun’ Winchester will try to run his record to 13-4 as he takes on always tough journeyman Kevin Carter. Also Spr. Featherweights Jesse Carradine and Cordaro Simpkins face off in a 6 round bout that will propel one of them into contender status. You can also see the Pro debuts of two area amateur standouts Cristian Dominguez and Quan Morgan.
– Saturday, July 16, 2011 7:30pm ET featuring Extreme Fight Night (XFN) returns to the Camp Jordan Arena, East Ridge, Tennessee. The event will feature amateur MMA and kickboxing with some of the Southeast’s top prospects. As a special treat to combat sports fans this event will be offered FREE starting July 21 only through the GFL Combat Sports Network.
GFL now offers full access to over 5,000 fights for the low monthly price of $9.99 subscribe now at www.GFL.tv
***GFL is a pioneer in Internet Sports Broadcasting. Over the years GFL has broadcast more than 1000 live events with over 5,000 combat sports videos in 196 countries. GFL is especially proud to have served greater than 1.8 million public viewers last year with now over 150 combat sports related website affiliates in its network. GFL combat sports genres currently include Boxing, MMA and Professional Wrestling. GFL offers expanded programming to include: Daily News & Radio Shows with feature interviews and industry updates along with great Fight Photos, Fighter Videos and a robust Calendar of Upcoming Fight Events.
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Antonio Diaz vs. Ernesto Zepeda on August 12th
LOS ANGELES, July 13 – As one of the first fighters to put Fantasy Springs Resort Casino on the boxing map, longtime contender and Coachella Valley product Antonio “Toño” Diaz has set a standard of excellence many boxers have tried to reach. On Friday, August 12, in the main event of TeleFutura’s “Solo Boxeo Tecate,” Diaz will fight in the Indio, Calif. venue he helped build, for the first time in nearly 10 years when he takes on Ernesto Zepeda in a 10-round junior middleweight bout.
The bout will be Diaz’ 17th at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino and his first since a 2001 technical knockout over Orlando Hollis on October 12. He is unbeaten in the venue at 16-0 and looks to make it 17-0 on August 12.
Diaz vs. Zepeda is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and is sponsored by Cerveza Tecate, DeWalt Tools and AT&T. Doors open at 6:00pm PT on fight night and the first bell rings at 7:30pm PT. The TeleFutura broadcast begins at 11:30pm ET / PT (10:30pm CT).
Fans at home can also be part of the action by participating in Cinturón Tecate and voting for the fighter in the main event who displayed the most character in the ring by sending a text message to 55333. Voting will be open through the end of the weekend.
Tickets, priced at $25, $35 and $45 are on sale now and available for purchase at the Fantasy Springs Box Office, by calling (800) 827-2946 or online at www.fantasyspringsresort.com.
An all-action fighter who has never disappointed fight fans with his memorable performances in the ring, 35-year-old Antonio Diaz (46-6-1, 29 KOs) has always stepped up to fight the best. A veteran of 16 years in the pro game, Diaz has defeated the likes of Cory “The Next Generation” Spinks, Emanuel “Outlaw” Augustus, Ivan Robinson and Micky “Irish” Ward. Winner of four of his last fight bouts since returning from a three year layoff in 2008, with his only loss coming against current World Boxing Council (WBC) Welterweight Champion “Vicious” Victor Oritz, Diaz is eager to return to the ring where he first made his mark in 1995.
A 15-year veteran who, like Diaz, came up the hard way in the ring, Ernesto Zepeda (39-14-4, 34 KOs) also resembles his opponent in that he never backs down from a challenge. A 34-year-old native of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico who has taken on the likes of Steve Forbes, Matthew Hatton, Demetrius Hopkins and Diaz’ brother, former World Champion Julio Diaz, Zepeda is training for an all out battle on August 12 and he knows “Toño” will give him one on fight night.
Tecate, cerveza con carácter, is the largest beer brand to sponsor boxing matches in the U.S. Part of its commitment to make boxing accessible to consumers is the title sponsorship of “Sólo Boxeo Tecate,” which creates an opportunity for local fans to witness some of the most exhilarating fights by today’s up-and-coming prospects. Additionally, Tecate has been a primary supporter of Golden Boy Promotions’ marquee events since 2007, and has launched a variety of initiatives to ensure consumers are part of the boxing experience, including boxer autograph signing sessions, commemorative cans, PPV mail-in rebate offers, and most recently the launch of a mobile museum “Tecate Museo de Boxeo,” which showcases decades of the most memorable moments in the sport.