Tonight’s edition of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights comes live from the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut, airing live on the ESPN2 at 9 p.m. Eastern.
Promoted by SMS Promotions—owned by recording artist 50 Cent—the main event of the night features a 10-round light heavyweight battle between Eleider “Storm” Alvarez (12-0, 8 KO) and “Sweetness” Allan Green (32-4, 22 KO).
Despite the only four year age difference, both fighters’ resumes tell a different story. Turning pro in 2009, Alvarez has gradually been working his way up the rankings while Green is an experienced veteran and former title challenger with triple the fights of his opponent.
In his young career Alvarez—a former 2008 Colombian Olympian—has showed solid power in his hands and that he is a viable contender in the light heavyweight division.
“Alvarez is a very, very disciplined kid who has all his focus on boxing,” Alvarez’s trainer Marc Ramsay said. “Green is a very gifted fighter, but with somebody who’s very competitive, like Alvarez, it’s going to be a tough night for him.”
For Green—a former super middleweight world title challenger—this will only be his third fight as a light heavyweight. In his first outing in 2012 he battled former world super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler and was stopped in the 4th round. He rebounded from the loss last November when he defeated Renan St Juste, but has been out of the ring for over 8 months since the win, so he may be carrying over some rust into the ring.
“I’m pretty sure Alvarez hasn’t fought a guy like Allan,” Green’s trainer Anthony Wilson said. “But this kid (Alvarez), he’s not an Olympian for nothing. He’s very strong. He has a great 1-2 and is kind of sneaky with the right hand. Allan can’t stand in front of him. He’s got to do a lot of head movement, a lot of boxing. If Allan does what he’s supposed to do and listens, we’ll win the fight.”
Though scheduled for 10 rounds, fans can expect to see a lot of action with one of the fighters not making it the full duration of the contest. The hungry rising prospect will look to move one step closer to a world title fight while the veteran will look to show he still has some gas left in the tank and get back to title contention.
The action will get underway with a couple of featherweights in Billy “The Kid” Dib (35-2, 21 KO) and Mike “Machine Gun” Oliver (25-3, 8 KO), beginning tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2.
