ESPN’s Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra will feature light heavyweights Edison “Pantera” Miranda (35-6, 30 KOs) and Isaac “Golden Boy” Chilemba (18-1-1, 9 KOs) in the 10-round main event on February 3 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 HD, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN3 from Las Vegas. The card is presented by Warriors Boxing.
ESPN2 and ESPN3:
On ESPN2 and ESPN3, Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas will be ringside at the Texas Station Casino describing the action, while studio host Bernardo Osuna will present all the latest boxing news and highlights. On Friday’s show, Osuna will preview the upcoming middleweight title bout between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Marco Antonio Rubio and the super-bantamweight title fight between Nonito Donaire and Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. Friday’s show will also explain Mickey Ward’s relationship with the Super Bowl bound New England Patriots.
ESPN Deportes:
Viernes de Combates (Friday Night Fights) will feature Pablo Viruega and Delvin Rodriguez calling the fights and Leopoldo Gonzalez and Lindsay Casinelli in the studio. ESPN Deportes will preview the Chavez-Rubio fight and will talk to former welterweight titlist Victor Ortiz following his postponed rematch against Andre Berto.
Main Event:
Florida’s Miranda—former super middleweight and middleweight world title challenger—is coming off a fifth-round TKO over Kariz Kariuki, while South Africa’s Chilemba is coming off an October second-round knockout over Jameson Bostic. Miranda’s two title bouts include a controversial decision loss to former middleweight titlist Arthur Abraham and a third-round knockout loss to super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute. Miranda also has lost non-title fights to formermiddleweight champ Kelly Pavlik and super middleweight titlist Andre Ward.
Tessitore:
“Edison Miranda has been one of the real characters for Friday Night Fights over the course of recent years. He’s a heavy handed guy, loves to talk smack heading into a fight and sometimes is not the most disciplined guy. Chilemba is a guy that impressed me with his guts and determination the last time we saw him. He was down a couple of times late in the fight, showed heart, got up and continued on.”
Atlas:
“Chilemba is clever. He’s a guy that stays on the outside, has long arms, and uses his jab. He can frustrate you a little bit, and looks for spots with the right hand. He showed plenty of heart coming off the floor in his last fight on ESPN to win that fight.”
Co-Feature:
Friday’s co-feature will pit two undefeated lightweights who hail from Las Vegas — Hylon “Suave” Williams Jr. (15-0, 3 KOs) against Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (14-0, 11 KOs). Williams Jr. is coming off a six-round decision over Andre Baker, while Barthelemy is coming off a second-round knockout over Alejandro Barrera.
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