Friday Night Fights
| ESPN Friday Night Fights | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sports/Boxing |
| Presented by | Bernard Hopkins |
| Starring | Various personalities |
| Narrated by | Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English (occasional interpreters) |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | Various |
| Release | |
| Original network | ESPN2 |
| Picture format | HDTV 720p |
| Audio format | Surround sound |
| Original release | June 7, 1998 – May 22, 2015 |
ESPN Friday Night Fights (last known as Friday Night Fights presented by Just for Men Haircolor for sponsorship reasons) was a series of boxing events broadcast by ESPN2. First premiering in 1998, the program traditionally featured bouts involving up-and-coming and semi-professional boxers, along with studio segments covering headlines and developments across the sport. As implied by its title, the program was primarily broadcast on Friday nights, semi-regularly.
Ringside commentary was provided by Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas; previous seasons featured boxing analyst Max Kellerman alongside Brian Kenny and sportscaster Bob Papa in Tessitore's role ringside with Atlas. The program spawned spinoffs, Tuesday Night Fights and Wednesday Night Fights. A Spanish-language version, Noche de Combates, aired on ESPN Deportes and ESPN Latin America.
On March 19, 2015, ESPN announced that Friday Night Fights would air for the final time on May 22, 2015, covering the finals of the 2015 Boxcino tournament. The network announced that it had reached a multi-year deal with Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions to broadcast 11 events per-year on the main ESPN network, primarily on Saturday nights, and an afternoon event on ABC. Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas will carry over to serve as hosts. ESPN is one of several major broadcasters that airs fights through the promotion, which also includes NBC, CBS, their respective cable sports networks, as well as Spike.
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 broadcasts feature another four-round or six-round match.
Between fights the show goes back to ESPN studios 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 matches. Guest commentators include "Baby" Joe Mesi and Bernard Hopkins.
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