Middleweight and Lightweight tournament hits ESPN Friday Night Fights

ESPN will televise the Boxcino 2014 tournament, a new boxing tournament presented by Banner Promotions, that will air on ESPN Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra and ESPN Deportes™ Noche de Combates presented by Corona Extra. The first of five shows will be held Friday, Feb. 21, at the Edgewater Casino in Laughlin, Nevada, and will air live at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2, broadband Spanish-languageESPN Deportes+ and WatchESPN. ESPN Deportes will televise the fights on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 8 p.m. The competition will be a single-elimination, two-weight class tournament that will feature eight fighters in both the Lightweight and Middleweight divisions.   

"We are looking forward to showcasing this tournament on Friday Night Fights and Noche de Combates," said Brian Kweder, ESPN senior director of programming and acquisitions. "It will give fans the opportunity to see some of the best up-and-coming fighters in the sport and follow them throughout the Friday Night Fights and Noche de Combates season. ESPN did a similar tournament back in 1997, which was won by future four-time world champion Acelino Freitas. We hope to find another diamond in the rough like we did that year."  

"This will be one of the most unique tournaments that boxing has seen in a long time," said Arthur Pelullo, Banner Promotions CEO. "We are excited at the concept and we believe that new stars will be born. The fans will be able to watch these fighters grow and the fighters know that with a great performance, they have a chance to become a major player in the sport."

The tournament will include a quarterfinal round, semifinals and finals in each division, which will take place throughout the Friday Night Fights and Noche de Combates season. Each quarterfinal round will feature four six-round bouts. The winners will move on to the semifinals, which will be eight-round bouts. The finals of both the Lightweights and Middleweights will each be 10 rounds. At the conclusion of the tournament, the Boxcino 2014 Champion in each weight division will receive a championship belt. 

Commentators:  

Joe Tessitore will be ringside with Teddy Atlas describing the action for ESPN2 on the opening night of the tournament, while studio host Todd Grisham (@GrishamESPN) will present all the latest boxing news and highlights. Delvin Rodríguez and Pablo Viruega will call the fights for Noche de Combates (Fight Night) on both ESPN Deportes and ESPN Deportes+, while Leopoldo González and Claudia Trejos will anchor the studio. Bilingual reporter BernardoOsuna (@osunaespn)will present live interviews and reports for both shows.

Boxcino 2014 Fighters:  Matchups will be announced on this week's edition of Friday Night Fights and Noche de Combates(boxer matchups are determined by a random drawing and the tournament bracket will be structured based on this drawing), which will air live Friday, Jan. 31, at 9 p.m. on ESPN2, broadband Spanish-language ESPN Deportes+ and WatchESPN. 

 Lightweight Division:

Yakubu Amidu: Los Angeles (22-4-1, 18 KOs)

Fernando Carcamo: Ciudad Obregon, Mexico (15-5-0, 12 KOs)

Miguel González: Cleveland (22-3-0, 16 KOs)

Miguel Angel Mendoza: Aguascalientes, Mexico (21-2-2, 21 KOs)

Samuel Neequaye: Accra, Ghana (21-0-0, 15 KOs)

Fedor Papazov: Russia (14-0-0, 9 KOs)

Petr Petrov: Madrid, Spain (32-4-2, 15 KOs) 

Chris Rudd: Covington, Tennessee (12-1-0, 8 KOs)

  Middleweight Division:

Brandon Adams: San Diego, California (12-0-0, 7 KOs)

Sena Agbeko: Accra, Ghana (15-0-0, 15 KOs) 

Donatas Bondorovas: Chicago (18-4-1, 6 KOs)

Daniel Edouard: West Palm Beach, Florida (23-4-2, 12 KOs) 

Cerresso Fort: St. Paul, Minnesota (17-2-1, 11 KOs)

Raymond Gatica: Austin, Texas (13-1-0, 7 KOs) 

Willie Monroe, Jr.: Rochester, New York (15-1-0, 6 KOs) 

Vitalii Kopylenko: Kiev, Ukraine (22-0-0, 12 KOs)

TV Schedule:

Date

Time (ET)

Round

Location

Networks

Fri, Feb. 21

9 p.m.

Lightweight Quarterfinal Round

Edgewater Casino, 

Laughlin, Nev.

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

Fri, Feb. 28 

9 p.m.

MiddleweightQuarterfinal Round

Harrah's Horseshoe, Hammond, Ind. 

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

Fri, Mar. 28

9 p.m.

Lightweight Semifinal Round

4 Bears Casino,

New Town, N.D.

ESPN, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

Fri, Apr. 18

9 p.m.

Middleweight Semifinal Round

Turning Stone Casino, 

Verona N.Y.

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

Fri, May 23

9 p.m.

Lightweight & Middleweight Final Round

Turning Stone Casino, 

Verona N.Y.

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes+, WatchESPN

 Follow ESPN Friday Night Fights on Twitter @ESPNFNF or like it on Facebook. Follow ESPN Deportes' Noche de Combates on Twitter @ESPNBoxeo.  Also score the fights round-by-round with the "Live Friday Night Fights Facebook Voting App," an application on the ESPN FNF Facebook page that allows viewers to score the fight round-by-round. For the latest ESPN.com boxing news and analysis follow @ESPNBoxing.