ESPN’s Friday Night Fights will give us a chance to get what might be a final look at two former champions and Hall of Famer’s in a co-feature event. Legendary Mexican great Jose Luis Castillo (63-11-1 54KO’s) will take on Ivan Popoca (15-1-1 10KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round welterweight bout. Also, Glen Johnson (51-16-2 35KO’s) faces off against Andrzej Fonfara (21-2 12KO’s) in a 10 round fight at light heavyweight. With the card being held at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, it will be Johnson and Castillo’s first appearances in the windy city. On the other hand Fonfara and Popoca both residing in Chicago and both undefeated at the UIC Pavilion will literally be right at home.
Recently, it’s been quite a bumpy road for the veterans leading up to this Friday’s fights. Johnson has lost back to back fights against Lucian Bute and Carl Froch, and is 3-4 in his last 7. While Castillo is 3-2 dating back to 2010, the first of the two loses was an utter beat down at the hands of Alfonso Gomez, which I scored every round for Gomez until the stoppage before the 6th.
Johnson is making his return back to light heavyweight after a short 3 fight stint at super middleweight. When Mikkel Kessler had to withdraw from the Super Six World Boxing Classic with an eye injury, Johnson stepped in. His first fight was an 8th round TKO victory against Allan Green. In his next fight of the tournament he was defeated in a very competitive majority decision by Carl Froch. Then he closed out his campaign at super middleweight in a lopsided unanimous decision loss to Lucian Bute. Now that Johnson is back to a weight that at the age of 43 is probably more suitable for him, he’s stepping in the ring with Fonfara who has 9 straight KO’s. With no star-power names on his resume Fonfara is looking to get his 1st real notable win of his career. For Andrzej, to score a win over a fighter like Johnson, who’s a former champion and has notched wins against greats such as Roy Jones Jr. and Antonio Tarver, is quite an accomplishment at this point in his career.
Fonfara has won 11 of his last 12 fights with 1 no decision. In that time he defeated Anthony Russell by 7th round KO to win the vacant WBO NABO light heavyweight title and also won the USBO light heavyweight belt in his last fight in a 3rd round TKO of Byron Mitchell. He’s currently the WBC youth light heavyweight champion. Even though those aren’t major titles, they still show that Fonfara is a prospect that Johnson can’t take all too lightly. Fonfara obviously has good punching power since he has KO’d his last 9 opponents, and with Johnson having a sturdy chin, punching power, and serious gaul; we should be in for a good fight.
In the other main event Castillo takes on a solid fighter in Ivan “El Marro” Popoca. Jose Luis is a 20 year veteran who has been in clashes with some of the best fighters of the last two decades. Twice he fought and lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr., the 1st was a very controversial decision loss. He also took on Diego Corrales twice, splitting with the late great Chico in two extremely action packed fights. Juan Lazcano, Stevie Johnson, Joel Casamayor and Ricky Hatton are just a few more of the big names over his 75 fight career. After his loss to Sebastian Lujan in 08′, he fought 4 fights in Mexico against lesser opponents which led him to the Gomez debacle. After the Gomez loss, he had 4 more fights in his native country, going 3-1 but losing to Jorge Paez Jr. who is the only respectable name of the four. Like Johnson, this has brought him to a somewhat do or die moment in his career.
“El Morro’s” last outing was a KO loss to big time prospect Ruslan Provodnikov, which was also on ESPN’s FNF. Going into the 8th round, it was a closely fought battle until Popoca was dropped in the round. He was game to keep fighting but didn’t seem to have his legs under him, so referee Pat Russell stopped it. For Popoca, prior to the loss, he appeared to be a rising Mexican prospect. With a win against a legend like Castillo can be the bounce back needed to get his name in the mix for bigger fights.
Overall I think the card is going to be an exciting one. The Johnson-Fonfara fight will definitely be the highlight of the night in my opinion. It should be a slug it out, in your face kind of fight, which I see Glen “The Road Warrior” Johnson pulling out on the cards. Though if it ends in a KO I wouldn’t be surprised, because “The Polish Prince’s” chin hasn’t been tested like it will be against Johnson. Both are heavy punchers which always lead to a TV friendly fight.
Castillo-Popoca is going to be a good fight but I don’t see it being as eventful as the other main event. Castillo is slower and just a shell of the great champion he once was. Unless he pulls a rabbit out of his hat on Friday night, I predict Popoca will also score a decision victory.
Johnson has already stated that if he doesn’t win this weekend that he would seriously contemplate retirement. Though Castillo hasn’t mentioned it, I would assume that a loss would also have him in a similar mind state. The list of fighters these two have been in the ring with are nothing short of incredible and should place both in the Hall of Fame at their careers end. So regardless of the outcomes this weekend, both will hold their special places in boxing history.
