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Tonight at 9:00 pm EDT on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, and WatchESPN.com, ESPN Friday Night Fights says farewell for 2013, as the season finale is upon us. In the main event tonight from the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York, Argenis Mendez will defend the IBF super featherweight title against Arash Usmanee.
The show also marks the debut of Mike Tyson as a promoter with Iron Mike Productions, which is just the renamed Acquinity Sports, the company you may remember from aggressively pushing Joan Guzman's "second" chance, only to have him miss weight again by eight pounds. Tyson is mostly a figurehead here, but hey, it means a little more attention. So whatever. Good for them.
Mendez (21-2, 11 KO) is coming off of a big KO win over Juan Carlos Salgado on March 9, while Usmanee (20-1, 10 KO) was last seen on FNF getting robbed against Rances Barthelemy on January 4, the season premiere. So Usmanee opens and closes Friday Night Fights this year. What a story. Hopefully he doesn't get screwed again.
In the co-feature, featherweight prospect Claudio Marrero (14-0, 11 KO) will face Jesus Cuellar (22-1, 18 KO). Both are still pretty unproven, but the KO percentages give the hope that we'll see some bombs away action.
JOIN US TONIGHT AS WE SAY GOODBYE TO FNF 2013 WITH THIS TERRIBLE SONG BY FUEL