Friday Night Fights tonight, starting at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, will feature Robert "The Ghost" Guererro vs. Efren Hinojosa and prospect Danny Garcia vs Pavel Miranda. Telemundo is also airing a card at 11:30 p.m. Eastern, featuring Diosbelys Hurtado vs. Manuel Garnica and Odlanier Solis vs. Dominique Alexander. I may do some round by round if the fight seems to warrant it, and others may feel free to do the same. A few pre-fight notes:
- For those who don't know Danny Garcia, he was one of those 'last men out' for the Olympic team, coming in second place in US qualifying at 140. For what it's worth, the guys who came in second are looking like a better set of prospects than the ones who came in first. A whole slew of them went pro when they didn't make the squad. These include Daniel Jacobs, Hylon Williams Jr., Yathomas Riley, Keith Thurman and Qa'id Muhammad. Collectively, the second-place finishers who have gone pro have a 67-1 record, with the lone loss coming to lightweight Miguel Gonzalez.
- Odlanier Solis weighed in for his fight at a career high of 264. This is a guy who was competing at 200 in the amateurs only three years ago. I've heard the theory that Cuban heavyweights don't pan out because once they get their freedom, they use too much of it. Guys in the lower weight classes have a weight limit to make, so they keep their discipline, but Solis has evidently lost his. For someone who's a slick boxer and who barely cracks 6'1", 264 is WAY too fat. For a frame of reference, that's almost 10 pounds heavier than Cristobal Arreola's recent weight, and Arreola is a good three inches taller.
- Hurtado has recently started a comeback that he hopes culminates in him winning another title. At 36 years old, good luck to him on that. If he beats Garncia, who's 2-4 in his last 6, he'll join the WBO rankings at welterweight.