Friday Night Fights finale tonight in Corona, California
Headliners of Friday’s ESPN Friday Night Fights show in Corona, Calif. (l to r) Andrey Fedosov, Donovan Dennis, John “Apollo Kidd” Thompson and Brandon “Cannon” Adams. Photo: Carlos Baeza/Thompson Boxing Promotions
ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights” boxing series ends Friday evening, May 22nd, at the Omega Products Outdoor Arena located in Corona, Calif. just off Interstate 15. With Thompson Boxing Promotions of Orange, Calif. lending a hand with the East Coast promoter, Banner Promotions of Philadelphia, this last show is set to feature not only the two outstanding fights in the heavyweight and junior middleweight division of the 2015 Boxcino finals but more than a few of our local standouts on this extremely competitive fight card.
In the finals of the Boxcino Junior middleweights you have Brandon “Cannon” Adams (17-1, 12 KOs) of Los Angeles taking on John Thompson (16-1, 5 KOs) from Newark, New Jersey in a 10-rounder.
Also, heavyweight 27 year-old, 6’4” Donovan Dennis (14-2, 11 KOs) of Cleveland, Ohio will face 29 year-old, 6’1” Andrey Fedosov (27-3, 22 KOs) of Hollywood, Calif. by way of Shuya, Russia in a 10-rounder. Both Dennis and Fedosov have been electrifying the crowds leading up to the tournament finals by knocking out their respective opponents in the both the quarter and semifinals.
The four finalists are all that’s left from the original Sweet 16 that started out in this ESPN tournament. In Fedosov’s semifinal match, just seconds into the bout, his opponent Lenroy Thomas landed a straight left to Fedosov’s forehead that sent him flying backwards to have a seat on the canvas. Fortunately for Fedosov, it was what you’d call a flash knockdown and with-in seconds he was back on his feet to finish out the round. By the end of round three, Fedosov had ended Thomas’ night.
Dennis’ opponent in the semifinals, the 27 year-old, 365 pound, 6’7½” giant Razvan Cojanu (13-2, 7 KO’s) lasted until the :59 second mark of Round 2 before he went down for good.
In addition to the Boxcino junior middleweight (140-147 pounds) crown that’s up for grabs, Adams and Thompson are also supposed to be battling for the interim WBA-NABA super welterweight (147-154 pound) title and the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Super Welterweight (147-154 pound) titles. That’s going to be tricky when you take into consideration both gentlemen weighed more than the maximum allowable 147 pounds at today’s weigh-ins. With Adams weighing 154.7, he doesn’t even qualify for the super welterweight classification.
Official weights from Thursday’s weigh-ins:
Andrey Fedosov 220.5 vs. Donovan Dennis 219
(Boxcino Heavyweight championship)
John Thompson 153.2 vs. Brandon Adams 154.7
(Boxcino Jr. Middleweight championship)
Super Bantamweights Fernando Fuentes 122 vs. Isaac Zarate 122
Lightweights Angel Martinez 131.8 vs. Andres Fabian Figueroa 132.2
Super Bantamweights Richard Tallmadge 118.4 vs. Humberto Rubalcava 120.7
Welterweights Isaac Freeman 146.5 vs. Danny Leon 146.1
Super Bantamweights Adam Lopez 122.9 vs. Miguel Tamayo 121
The 23 year-old Isaac Zarate (10-1-1, 1 KO) from San Pedro, Calif. is taking on 20 year-old Fernando Fuentes (5-4, 1 KO) from Hemet, Calif. in a eight round Super Bantamweight bout. Fuentes is well known in San Diego after fighting often in the USA Amateur Boxing LBC 44 sanctioned shows.
The 26 year-old Andres Figueroa (5-0, 3 KOs) from Bogota, Columbia is scheduled to be taking on 20 year-old Angel Martinez (5-1-1, 1 KO) of San Antonio, Texas in a six round lightweight contest.
Next, it will be 24 year-old Adam “Mantequilla” Lopez (11-0-0, 6 KOs) of San Antonio taking on 31 year-old southpaw Miguel “Yaqui” Tamayo (16-12-2, 14 KOs) of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico in a six round super bantamweight bout. In his last two contest, Tamayo lost to Daniel Roman and Carlos Carlson, both by decision.
Finally, in a four round super bantamweight bout they have 20 year-old Humberto Rubalcava (1-0, 1 KO) of Riverside, Calif. going up against Richard Tallmadge who is making his pro-debut and 23 year-old, 6’ tall Eridanni Leon from Inglewood, Calif. (2-1) taking on 26 year-old Isaac Freeman of Los Angeles, Calif. (1-1, 1 KO) in a four round welterweight match.
Tickets for this show are priced at $50, $70 and $100 and are available for purchase online at ThompsonBoxing.com or by calling 714-935-0900. The Omega Products Outdoor Arena, located at 1681 California Ave., Corona, CA 92881 and can be reached at 951-737-7447. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. PT and the first bout will begin at 6:15 p.m. PT.
