For those who have been waiting to see Jay Z’s Roc Nation debut into boxing the time has come this Friday night on Fox Sports 1. Roc Nation will be putting on its first boxing show of the year with another two shows still to come as part of a three-event deal with Fox Sports according to its website.
Headlining Friday night is 20-year-old prospect Dusty Hernandez-Harrison (24-0, 13 KO) of Washington D.C. against Tommy Rainone (22-5-1, 4 KOs) of Plainview N.Y. The 6-foot Hernandez-Harrison weighed in at 145 pounds at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club, his opponent Rainone came in at 146.8 pounds, just under the welterweight limit. Hernandez-Harrison started his pro career at the tender age of 17, and in 2013 alone had eight fights and won four by knockout. In 2014 he had five fights and was last seen in the ring for a 90 second beat down of 41-year old Michael Clark (44-12, 18 KOs) in front of a hometown crowd.
Hernandez-Harrison currently holds a WBC “Youth” welterweight championship and will be fighting Rainone for a vacant WBC “Continental Americas” title in the same division. This will be Hernandez-Harrison’s third fight scheduled to go 10 rounds, the first being a ten round decision win over Josh Torres. Rainone is undefeated in his last six fights and will be looking to upset the up and comer who has tasted the canvas in previous bouts.
Preceding the main-event is a clash of once-beaten middleweights between Tureano Johnson (17-1, 12 KOs) who weighed in at the 160-pound middleweight limit and Alex Theran (17-1, 10 KOs) who weighed in at 158.2 pounds. As one may predict through their near-identical records, Johnson with 2 more knockouts is a puncher-stalker, and Theran with his slightly smaller KO percentage is the boxer-matador. Johnson only seems to know one direction, which is through his opponent, whereas Theran moves off the jab and parries or reacts to big punches coming his way. It’s a good clash of styles that may favor Theran who at 24 is six years younger than Johnson. This is a ten round fight and up for grabs is WBC continental Americas middleweight title and a vacant WBA international middleweight title.
Also on the card is another welterweight showdown between Cecil McCalla (20-0, 7 KOs) and Chris “The Heat” Van Heerden (21-1, 11 KOs). This is McCalla’s first fight scheduled for 10 rounds and is for a vacant IBF international welterweight title. Van Heerden has gone the 12 round distance already 8 times and will be slightly favored in experience and is 2 years younger.
Many followers of boxing have kept a close eye on Roc Nation and its boxing aspirations since the Quillin-Korobov purse bid of 2014, where Roc Nation’s astonishing bid of $1.9 million earned the rights to show the fight before it was ultimately called off. Now boxing fans are treated to three 10 round fights, all for versions of a world title, with promising prospects and solid opposition just a week after the new year. One thing is for sure of Roc Nation, whatever boxing news they make, it has been worth paying attention to.
