The March 8 edition of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights presented by Corona Extra will feature Victor “Mermelada” Cayo (31-3, 21 KOs), who once fought for the Junior Welterweight title, and Emanuel “Tranzforma” Taylor (16-1, 11 KOs) in the 10-round main event. Friday’s show from the Resorts Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., will air live at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2 HD, and will be available online through WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app. The card will also air live on ESPN Deportes+, the new digital extension of ESPN Deportes, and will air tape delayed on ESPN Deportes Sunday, March 10, at 3 a.m. The card is promoted by Sampson Boxing.
Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas will be ringside describing the action for ESPN2 HD, while studio host Todd Grisham (@GrishamESPN) will provide the latest boxing news and highlights. Alex Pombo and Delvin Rodriguez will call this week’s fights for ESPN Deportes’ Viernes de Combates (Friday Night Fights) with Leopoldo Gonzalez and Pablo Viruega in the studio. Bilingual reporter Bernardo Osuna (@osunaespn) will present live interviews and reports for both shows.
Friday’s studio show will discuss the March 9 title fight between Light Heavyweight titlist Tavoris Cloud and Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins, 48, is looking to break his own record in becoming the oldest fighter to win a world title. ESPN.com boxing writer Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) will be at Saturday’s fight from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., covering the fight for ESPN
Main Event:
Dominican Republic’s Cayo has won his last four fights, three by knockout. He won a 10-round unanimous decision over Vladimir Baez in his last fight and enters Friday’s bout with big fight experience, having fought former and current titlists Nate Campbell, Marcos Maidana, Julio Diaz and Lamont Peterson.
Maryland’s Taylor, has won his last two fights and is coming off one of his best wins, a sixth-round TKO over Raymond Serrano. After the fight Rafael wrote: “Serrano started off well enough, appearing to edge Taylor in the first two rounds, but then it was all downhill. Taylor began landing nice short punches when the fighters were on the inside, and did a good job on defense to avoid most of what was coming back. He was really in a groove landing combinations and controlling the action when he badly hurt Serrano against the ropes in the sixth round. With Taylor landing a barrage of unanswered blows, (the) referee stepped in to call off the fight at 1 minute, 42 seconds.”
Co-Feature:
Friday’s 10-round co-feature will pit undefeated Heavyweight Magomed “Mago” Abdusalamov (16-0, 16 KOs) against Victor Bisbal (21-1, 15 KOs). Abdusalamov scored a second-round TKO win over Jameel McCline in his last fight, while Bisbal is looking to win his 17th straight fight, following a sixth-round TKO win over Alex Gonzalez.
Follow ESPN’s Friday Night Fights on Twitter @ESPNFNF or like it on Facebook. Follow ESPN Deportes’ Viernes 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.
