Ring of Fire at Cicero Stadium Friday Night

Chicagoland fan favorite Jose Hernandez, 19-2 (13 KO’s), will square off this Friday night against Antonio Escalante, 10-1 (7 KO’s), of El Paso, TX in the ten round featherweight co-main event of RING OF FIRE, a terrific evening of internationally televised professional boxing presented by Dominic Pesoli’s 8 Count Productions and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, along with Miller Lite and TCF Bank.

Jose Hernandez is riding a thirteen bout winning streak, most recently taking a ten round unanimous decision over Panamanian Armando Cordoba two months ago at the Aragon Ballroom on the 8 Count Productions/Golden Boy Promotions PRIDE AND GLORY event. The 19 year old Escalante is on a six bout winning streak, having stopped Trinidad Mendoza in the third round on October 28th in Las Vegas, NM.

Hernandez, a native of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico spoke over the weekend of his upcoming bout: “I’ve seen tapes of him and he throws a very high volume of punches, he’s probably has faster hands than I do but I feel that I’ll be stronger and I’ve got much more experience,” said the 29-year-old Round Lake, Illinois resident.

Speaking about his last bout against Armando Cordoba this past November at the Aragon Ballroom, Hernandez said, “I was in good shape but not great shape like I am now. I should have finished him off in the second when I had him down instead of getting a distance win. For this fight I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in. We’ve done much more sparring, running and training in preparation for this guy.”

Discussing the high profile of the fight, “It’s nice to know there will be a huge crowd present on Friday night and that its broadcast everywhere by Univision. Antonio’s very highly thought of having signed with Oscar, however while Dominic and Oscar will be there supporting each of us, neither one of them can fight for us. When the bell rings it’s on just for the two of us.

The classy Hernandez completed the interview by stating, “The Chicagoland fans have been great to me and I want to thank them for all of their support. They were terrific in November and I’m sure they’ll be loud on Friday.”

“This is a great opportunity for both fighters,” said Dominic Pesoli about the bout. “For each one, a win really helps their career, but a loss isn’t a total disaster because they’re both solid guys. The fight really epitomizes what 8 Count Productions is about, having fighters take challenges as they move from prospects to contenders. Judging by Escalante taking this fight, I think Oscar and his company feel the same way. Fight fans will really enjoy this fight.”

The main event on the SOLO BOXEO televised card is a terrific twelve round junior middleweight showdown between Marco Antonio Rubio, 32-2-1 (29 KO’s) of Gomez Palacio, Mexico and Russian Aslanbek Kodzoev, 16-1-1 (11 KO’s) fighting out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The entire fight card is as follows:

Marco Antonio Rubio vs. Aslanbek Kodzoev, ten rounds, junior middleweights

Jose Hernandez vs. Antonio Escalante, ten rounds, featherweights

Jonathan Oquendo vs. Terrence Roy, eight rounds, super bantamweights

Mike Gonzalez vs. Edgar Pedraza, six rounds, lightweights

Francisco Rodriguez vs. Elvis Martinez, six rounds, super bantamweights

Jose Manuel Ortega vs. Ryan Gronvold, six sounds, junior welterweights

Barbaro Zepeda vs. Hassan Wasswa, six rounds, featherweights

RING OF FIRE will take place at Cicero Stadium, 1909 S. Laramie. Doors for this event will open at 6pm, with the first bell scheduled for 7pm. Tickets, starting at $30 can be purchased in advance by calling 312-226-5800.

To view the poster and for further information about the fighters on this event, please visit www.8countproductions.com or www.goldenboypromotions.com