On Thursday May 2, former Lightweight world title challenger Ji-Hoon “Volcano” Kim (24-8, 18 KOs) will meet Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera (18-3, 7 KOs) in the 10-round Junior Welterweight main event in an ESPN Boxing: Friday Night Fights Special Edition presented by Corona Extra. Thursday’s show from the Omega Products Outdoor Arena in Corona, Calif., will air live at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 HD.
Main Event:
California’s Herrera enters Thursday’s fight with two big wins on his record–a 12-round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Ruslan Provodnikov and a 10-round majority decision over Mike Dallas. Herrera is looking to get back to his winning ways after a 10-round unanimous decision loss to Karim Mayfield in his last fight.
“I think Kim is a tough guy,” Herrera said. “He’s not really too much of a technician but he’s tough, he’s there to fight. He’s a people’s type of fighter – he’s an action fighter. I can give action, too. I’m coming out to prove something, and I plan to give one of the best performances of my career with Ji-Hoon Kim.”
South Korea’s Kim is looking to rebound from a 10-round unanimous decision loss to Ray Beltran. Prior to that, Kim won three fights in a row, all by 10-round unanimous decisions.
“We know Herrera is a very good boxer,” Kim’s co-manager Paul Lee said. “He’s lost, but only against great fighters like Mike Alvarado and Karim Mayfield. Those fighters are very hard to beat. He has very good movement and he’s fast, but we have some tactics to beat him.”
Co-Feature:
Friday’s 10-round co-feature will pit former Lightweight titlist Miguel “Aguacerito” Acosta (29-6-2, 23 KOs) against Miguel “Silky Smooth” Gonzalez (20-3, 15 KOs).
