ESPN2 Friday Night Fights

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This article is about the TV program ESPN2 Friday Night Fights. For a TV program with a similar name shown on the British TV channel Sky Sports 1, see Friday Fight Night.

ESPN2 Friday Night Fights is a TV program, of the American channel ESPN2, that shows a series of live boxing fights on Friday nights, usually at 9 p.m. ET. The program is hosted from the ESPN studio by ESPN's Brian Kenny and a guest host, usually a current or former boxer. Ringside commentary is provided by Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas. Previous seasons have featured boxing analyst Max Kellerman alongside Brian Kenny and sportscaster Bob Papa in Tessitore's role ringside with Atlas.

Friday Night Fights has also offered counterpart programs, ESPN2 Tuesday Night Fights, and in 2006 ESPN2 Wednesday Night Fights.

The usual set-up of the night is three matches. The first being eight rounds, the second being four, and the main event being either ten or twelve rounds. This is not always the case, though, as some matches will inevitably end early due to a knockout, disqualification, or accidental head-butt. In the event of the first fight ending early, the second match will usually move from four rounds up to six rounds. If enough fights end early, after the main event a match originally not supposed to be televised will be shown, another four-round match.

Between fights the show goes back to ESPN studios for Brian Kenny to talk about recent boxing news and/or have an interview with someone in the boxing world. Notable interviews include Bernard Hopkins, Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright and Sugar Ray Leonard, among others. The people being interviewed may or may not be in the studio with Brian. Special guests can also appear ringside. They usually only stay as guest commentators for one or two rounds and might possibly stay for a quick interview between rounds, although usually the show has commercials between rounds. Guest commentators include "Baby" Joe Mesi and Bernard Hopkins.

Title matches are not uncommon on Friday Night Fights, either. Usually this will only happen for minor belts, or if a belt (regardless of prestige) has been vacated and needs a champion.

[edit] Teddy Atlas' Fight Plan

Before every main event, a short video recorded earlier is shown where Teddy goes over what strategies he thinks each boxer should use and uses his assistant Saul to demonstrate (they don't actually hit each other, but Teddy will use light, open-palm hits if he's demonstrating body shots). Teddy's extensive background as a boxing trainer gives these videos a great deal of accuracy, and if a boxer uses the strategies he mentioned they usually work well. In a Rogers Mtagwa fight, Teddy predicted that Mtagwa would knock out his opponent in the fourth round, and even predicted what punch would be the finishing blow; he was right on all accounts. Normally, the videos will be recorded in the ring before anybody comes to the arena, but from time to time will be filmed outside of the arena, elsewhere in the city. One sequence ended with Saul tackling Teddy into a fountain they were standing next to.