On a special edition of Friday Night Fights, this Thursday; May 2nd, expect to see an action packed war on ESPN2 when Mauricio Herrera faces Ji-Hoon Kim in a 10 round super welterweight attraction. The televised co-feature will also pit Venezuelan bomber Miguel “Aguacerito“Acosta versus Miguel “Silky Smooth” Gonzalez at 135lbs in what should be a battle between a hard puncher and a slick boxer. With these bouts being televised just days before this weekend’s Mayweather-Guerrero fight, fans should have a lot of leverage going into Saturday night.
Starting off with Mauricio Herrera (18-3 7KO’s), coming off two very close fights; most recently a decision loss to Karim Mayfield and before that a April 2012 loss to current champ Mike Alvarado, he’s looking to replicate success once again like he did with wins over Mike Dallas Jr. and Ruslan Provodnikov. Herrera from Lake Elsinore, California, will want to employ his greater ring knowledge against Kim who tends to turn all of his fights into barn burners as he looks to always score a decisive victory, if he can negate that a solid win will put him back on the road to title contention.
Labeled by some as “Korea’s Arturo Gatti”, Ji-Hoon Kim (24-8 18KO’s) who’s known as the “Volcano” will try to erupt and explode in the ring like he did in his last fight when he put Raymundo Beltran on the seat of his pants in the first round of a ESPN televised decision loss this past December. A Wildman who leaves it all in the ring, Kim has challenged before for a title against Miguel Vasquez but came up short, yet the well-traveled fighter (Has fought in Korea, Japan, Australia, All over the U.S. etc.) continues to impress fans with his whirlwind style and spirited efforts even when outgunned, setting up his tempo at the beginning of the fight can help him cruise to victory.
Another pair of fighters coming off of losses, former interim title holder Miguel Acosta (29-6-2 23KO’s) will have his hands full with the younger, fresher Miguel Gonzalez (20-3 15KO’s) from Cleveland ,OH. The veteran; Acosta, is now 35 years old and has fought some of the who’s-who at 135lbs including Brandon Rios, Richard Abril, Urbano Antillion, amongst others, but has usually come up short when his power couldn’t land. Gonzalez may be young in terms of age, but his pedigree has been proven as an amateur but that hasn’t completely crossed over in the pro ranks with his last fight ending in a decision loss to Mike Dallas Jr. among other losses on his record against Angelo Santana and stepping stone Eric Ricker. For “Silky Smooth” to be successful he will have to implicate a game plan worthy of his name and blend not only his power and speed, but timing to gain leverage over his experienced foe.
The lightweight and super lightweight divisions are packed full of entertaining and competitive fights and if this Thompson Boxing Promotions along with Banner Promotions card out of Corona, CA can properly display their fighter’s talents, we should have some new players emerging in the ranks.
