Tonight at 9pm EDT, ESPN's Friday Night Fights is live from the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, Calif., with a 140-pound main event between Julio Diaz (38-6, 27 KO) and Kendall Holt (26-4, 14 KO). Neither fighter can afford the loss if they want to stay in, or more accurately get back into contention in the junior welterweight division, so it's a significant fight for both Diaz and Holt live on national television.
Diaz spoke from his camp recently about the fight and expressed the same sentiment:
The 31-year-old Diaz has won his last two against Herman Ngoudjo and Pavel Miranda, but before that was looking all but washed-up in losses to Victor Cayo and Rolando Reyes. Holt, 29, put in one of the worst performances of 2010 in a loss to Kaizer Mabuza, a fight in which the Paterson, N.J., native honestly looked like he had no idea what he was even doing, and not at all like a long-time contender in the division. But he returned in January on the Silverdome card (where Diaz beat Miranda) to stop Lenin Arroyo in the first round. This is the fight where we find out if the comeback is for real.
Friday Night Fights is live at 9pm EDT tonight on ESPN2, and Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.