Friday Night Fights rolls into the Morongo Casino Resort and Spa in Cabezon, California on Friday, August 9. Rustam Nugaev (24-6-1, 14 KOs) takes on Jose Hernandez (14-6-1, 6 KOs) in a 10-round lightweight bout, and undefeated Jose Pedraza (13-0, 9 KOs) takes on Gabriel Tolmajyan (14-2-1, 3 KOs) in the co-featured bout of the night. The fights begin at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT on ESPN2.
Of Hernandez’s 6 losses, 4 have come against highly-regarded prospects and contenders such as Luis Ramos Jr., Sharif Bogere, Matt Remillard, and Michael Perez. Hernandez has fought only once so far in 2013; a January TKO win over undefeated prospect Tony Luis.
Nugaev has split time fighting in his native Russia and the United States. He comes into Friday Night’s Friday Night Fights main event on a 3-fight winning streak dating back to his March 2011 unanimous decision loss to Alisher Rahimov. Two of his three wins have come against undefeated prospect Jonathan Maicelo and journeyman Daniel Attah.
In the co-feature, undefeated Puerto Rican prospect Jose Pedraza is looking to take another step forward in his young career. Pedraza has looked great in dispatching of a long line of club fighters and journeymen up to this point in his career, and a victory over Tolmajyan would be a step in the right direction. Pedraza last fought on the undercard of Adonis Stevenson’s knockout victory over Chad Dawson, scoring a TKO7 win over Sergio Villanueva.
Tolmajyan comes into Friday night’s fight looking to prove he belongs in with other rising junior lightweight prospects. Of his two losses, both have come against well-regarded prospects Efrain Esquivias and Abraham Lopez. Despite the two early losses, Tolmajyan took a step in the right direction in his last fight when he scored a unanimous decision victory over Jorge Maysonet Jr.
The theme of the night holds steady for all four fighters scheduled to appear on the Friday Night Fights Broadcast. Nugaev has struggled to capture any momentum in his career, and his opponent has lost each time he’s stepped up in competition. Nugaev is looking to mount a 4-fight win streak and inch closer to a title shot while Hernandez would like to prove he’s more than a stepping stone for blue chip prospects. The co-feature pits a young and undefeated Puerto Rican prospect taking on a confident and brash Armenian national coming off a career-best win.
“Like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for exclusives and other bonus material from Boxing’s Independent Media.
Visit our Store:
Leave a Reply