| 28 August 2010
For reasons only the programming gods can fathom, the season finale of Friday Night Fights is coming to us tonight... on a Saturday. At least the card is being held in one of the hottest markets for boxing at the current time, Montreal.
The headliner features Henry Lundy, whose last time on this show ended in a KO loss, against another one-loss fighter in Omri Lowther. Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas are calling the action, while Brian Kenny and Dan Rafael are in the studio.
With a light boxing slate tonight, the first studio topic is James Toney's foray into mixed martial arts. Rafael agrees that the fight tonight at UFC 118 proves nothing as far as "boxing vs. MMA" goes, but he does give him a slight chance to pull off the upset if he lands a bomb with the four-ounce gloves.
Humorously, two states in the ESPN.com poll think Toney will win. A video package gives us some great highlights from the career of Lights Out.
The talk turns to Antonio Margarito's licensing victory in Texas. Rafael explains that Texas was comfortable that Tony did not know what was going on with the loaded hand wraps.
Rafael also discusses Mikkel Kessler pulling out of the Super Six, and he believes that the rumored solution that would see Allan Green dropped and the upcoming fights simply become the semifinals is the one that Showtime will go with. The guys also briefly mention Kimbo Slice and his plans on pursuing a heavyweight boxing career.
The first televised fight is a four-rounder between welterweights Michael Springer and Samuel Vargas. Springer is the journeyman type here, while Vargas is 4-0 after turning pro in February.
The ref is really earning this money as these two guys end up in clinches about three dozen times in the first two rounds. Springer keeps coming in wildly, and Vargas seems a little confused as to how to combat those tactics.
The third and fourth rounds are pretty uninteresting, forcing Tessitore and Atlas to go into an extended riff on quicksand. Atlas says he was honest with the fans about the holes in this card, but he believes the main event will be worth watching. We're going to the cards for the opener.
The judges score it 39-37 Vargas, 39-37 Springer and 39-37 Vargas, so Vargas wins by split decision, though it was hardly an impressive one.
Back in the studio, Kenny shows a graphic that illustrates how Tomasz Adamek has built a following and continues drawing more fans every time he fights in Newark. Rafael narrates highlights from Adamek's victory over Michael Grant. Dan says Adamek will be back in action in November in the hopes that he can fight one of the Klitschkos or David Haye in 2011.
The next undercard bout is an eight-rounder between local boy Nicholson Poulard and former David Lemieux KO victim Alfredo Contreras. Atlas wonders if Contreras will be one of the weak spots on the card he referenced earlier. Poulard is the half-brother of Jean Pascal, by the way.
Poulard is off to a slow start, though he starts finding the range in Round 2. He lands a big right hand with about a minute left in Round 3 that forces Contreras to the mat. Poulard comes right back with another huge right after Contreras beats the count, and that's all she wrote. Poulard wins by KO.
To the studio one more time, and BK sets up a highlight package of the best of 30 years of boxing on ESPN. Tyson, Klitschko, Mancini, De La Hoya, Mosley, Foreman, Judah, Carbajal, Roger Mayweather, Augustus, Morrison, Gatti, Nunn, Toney, Roach, Barkley, Forrest, Ward, Hopkins, Paz, Floyd Mayweather... pretty much anyone who's anyone over the past three decades.
Rafael talks Juan Manuel Marquez and how he's planning on staying at 135 for a possible fall fight against Michael Katsidis. Also it appears that Rafael Marquez and Juan Manuel Lopez will have their fight pushed pack to November 6 following Rafa's thumb injury.
