“Friday Night Fights” To Air THURSDAY

Former Lightweight Title Challenger Ji-Hoon Kim to Meet Mauricio Herrera on ESPN Boxing: Friday Night Fights Special Edition This Thursday

Claudia Trejos Returns as Co-Host of ESPN Deportes’ Viernes de Combates

On Thursday May 2, former Lightweight world title challenger Ji-Hoon “Volcano” Kim (24-8, 18 KOs) will meet Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera (18-3, 7 KOs) in the 10-round Junior Welterweight main event in an ESPN Boxing: Friday Night Fights Special Edition presented by Corona Extra. Thursday’s show from the Omega Products Outdoor Arena in Corona, Calif., will air live at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 HD, ESPN Deportes and WatchESPN. The card is promoted by Banner and Thompson Promotions.

Commentators:
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. Pablo Viruega and Delvin Rodriguez will call this week’s fights for ESPN Deportes’ Viernes de Combates (Friday Night Fights). Bilingual reporter Bernardo Osuna (@osunaespn) will present live interviews and reports for both shows.

Starting this Thursday, versatile sports reporter Claudia Trejos returns to ESPN Deportes’ Viernes de Combates, joining Leopoldo Gonzalez in the studio. Considered one of the most respected Spanish-language sportscasters with vast experience covering boxing, Claudia is slated to be part of the network’s boxing coverage including Viernes de Combates every week. She will also appear across different studio shows. Trejos served as ringside reporter for Viernes de Combates in 2011 and occasionally filled in as studio host.

Studio:
Thursday’s studio show will discuss Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather-Robert Guerrero Welterweight title fight in Las Vegas and look back at the best of Friday Night Fights for the month of April.

Main Event:

California’s Herrera enters Thursday’s fight with two big wins on his record–a 12-round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Ruslan Provodnikov and a 10-round majority decision over Mike Dallas. Herrera is looking to get back to his winning ways after a 10-round unanimous decision loss to Karim Mayfield in his last fight.

“I think Kim is a tough guy,” Herrera said. “He’s not really too much of a technician but he’s tough, he’s there to fight. He’s a people’s type of fighter – he’s an action fighter. I can give action, too. I’m coming out to prove something, and I plan to give one of the best performances of my career with Ji-Hoon Kim.”

South Korea’s Kim is looking to rebound from a 10-round unanimous decision loss to Ray Beltran. Prior to that, Kim won three fights in a row, all by 10-round unanimous decisions.

“We know Herrera is a very good boxer,” Kim’s co-manager Paul Lee said. “He’s lost, but only against great fighters like Mike Alvarado and Karim Mayfield. Those fighters are very hard to beat. He has very good movement and he’s fast, but we have some tactics to beat him.”

Co-Feature:
Friday’s 10-round co-feature will pit former Lightweight titlist Miguel “Aguacerito” Acosta (29-6-2, 23 KOs) against Miguel “Silky Smooth” Gonzalez (20-3, 15 KOs).

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.