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Tonight at 10 p.m. EDT on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com, Friday Night Fights is back with a double-header pitting a pair of veteran ex-world champions against Chicagoland local favorites.
In the main event, 43-year-old Glen Johnson moves back up to light heavyweight to face Polish-born Andrzej Fonfara in a 10-round bout. Johnson (51-16-2, 35 KO) is coming off of back-to-back losses at 168 pounds, dropping a Super Six semifinal last June to Carl Froch, and then he was rather embarrassing in a non-effort against Lucian Bute in November.
Back at a weight he won't have to work so hard just to make on the scales, "The Road Warrior" sounds like he's got one more run left, and he'll be making it at 175 pounds. Fonfara (21-2, 12 KO) isn't a prospect of major note, but at 6'2" has a pretty good height advantage, and youth is on his side, as he's just 24.
In the co-feature, Jose Luis Castillo will meet Ivan Popoca in a 10-round welterweight fight. Castillo (63-11-1, 54 KO) has become so infamous for missing weight that the press release with the weigh-in results that I received had the headline "CASTILLO MAKES WEIGHT!!!" As you can see above, everyone was thrilled.
The 38-year-old Mexican warrior has been shot for years at this point, and really hasn't looked good since 2006, when he beat Rolando Reyes. It's been all downhill from there, and his most recent defeat at the hands of Jorge Paez Jr sealed it: Castillo really has nothing left.
Popoca (15-1-1, 10 KO) is a battler, but also not a major prospect. He's also been out of the ring for 14 months after a pretty one-sided loss to Ruslan Provodnikov on FNF in April 2011.
I'm hosting a BBQ this evening with my in-laws out of town and letting my wife and I use their house like a hotel we also eat dinner at about eight times a year, so I won't be in for normal round-by-round coverage tonight. Enjoy the show for those of you who watch. Maybe Castillo will pull two upsets this weekend!