Mike Dallas Jr vs Miguel Gonzalez New Friday Night Fights Main Event For 2/17

Mike Dallas Jr and Miguel Gonzalez will square off in a 10-round junior welterweight main event on the February 17 edition of Friday Night Fights, replacing the previously-scheduled lightweight main event that was to see John Molina face Marvin Quintero.

Dallas (17-2-1, 7 KO) has lost two straight, with both fights televised on ESPN. In January 2011, he was knocked out in seven by Josesito Lopez, losing his undefeated record, and returned in June with a loss to Mauricio Herrera on majority decision scores over 10 rounds. Bad Left Hook scored the Dallas-Herrera bout for Dallas, but it was a competitive fight.

Gonzalez (20-2, 15 KO) is a Cleveland native nicknamed "Silky Smooth," and has won 14 straight since his last loss in 2009.

But those wins came over largely terrible opponents in places where it's easy to build up a record like Michigan, West Virginia, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, and Missouri. His most notable victories have been over Humberto Toledo, Tyrone Harris, and Christopher Fernandez.

Dallas, 25, is in sort of a sink-or-swim position at this point in his career, and badly needs this win. Another loss and he'll be all but written off as a pure bust. He's working now with Virgil Hunter, but thus far that hasn't produced a win. Still, Dallas feels he and the BWAA Trainer of the Year are a good pairing, feeling that increased time together (they only had a month working in the gym prior to the loss to Herrera) will pay dividends.

"Overall I just feel more complete inside the ring," says Dallas. "Inside fighting has been non-existent in my game-plan in the past, but on February 17 you'll see a more complete and balanced fighter."

In the co-feature, East Los Angeles super middleweight Shawn Estrada will return to the ring looking to continue fluffing up his angel soft record, which currently stands at 13-0 (12 KO), in a fight against Terrance Woods (9-3, 6 KO), a 32-year-old club fighter with a 2-3 record in his last five fights.

Estrada, 26, has really struggled to stand out in his three-plus year pro career, because he's had an inconsistent schedule, some injury issues, and a series of opponents who just don't tell us much at all about where he stands. He's far from a blue chip prospect at this point, and whether he's got the ability to really become a contender is still up in the air.

The last time I saw Estrada live in action was in November 2010, when he faced Tony Hirsch and had some difficulty over six:

Shawn Estrada (10-0, 9 KO) went the distance for the first time in his pro career, struggling a bit over six rounds with Oakland's Tony Hirsch (12-4-1, 6 KO). Estrada knocked Hirsch down on a left hook in the first round, but he was just incredibly wild and seemed a little jittery. All in all, even with the struggles, it's probably good for Estrada to have gone the distance looking forward. Before this, he had never even been into a fourth round, and had only fought into the third round on one occasion. Eight of his first nine pro fights had ended in the first round. The 25-year-old Estrada won on scores of 58-55 and 59-54 (twice). Bad Left Hook had him winning 58-55.

For former Olympians, Estrada seems closer to another Goossen Tutor prospect, Javier Molina, than he is the likes of Andre Ward. Molina has seemingly conclusively proven that world class fights are not in his future already, but Estrada may be able to emerge still. Remember, there was a time in his prospect phase when injuries and other factors led some to believe Ward wouldn't pan out long-term, too, and he's done pretty well for himself.

The February 17 edition of Friday Night Fights will be live from College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. One night later, Goossen Tutor's fighters will be featured in Corpus Christi on Showtime, when Paul Williams and Chris Arreola are in action.