By Jake Donovan

Never judge a book by its cover.

At first glance, Golden Boy Promotion’s deal with VERSUS Network appeared to be just one more way to extract television revenue in order to fund the progress of the younger members of their ever-growing fighting stable.

Already in their grasp is a long-term output deal with HBO and an agreement with ESPN2 Friday Night Fights, where they are given one date per month as compensation for bringing aboard Tecate as a major sponsor of their events.

It was disclosed up front that their VERSUS Fight Night Club series would offer truth in advertising – “Club” in its title referring to the level of relevance in the fights being offered.

Few were sure what to expect of the series, since your garden-variety club show consists of an evening full of mismatches, where a single round won on the B-Side of the bout sheet is considered a major upset, never mind a house fighter actually losing.

Still, fans tuned in to the June 11 telecast with an open mind because, after all, boxing of any kind on the tube is better than no boxing at all.

The night proved to be well worth the investment in time.

Hopefully it will prove to be worth coming back the second time around, as Golden Boy Promotions returns to Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles for its second installment of Fight Night Club (VERSUS, Thursday, 10PM ET/7PM local time).

The series has already proven to be innovative on every level. Far removed from the traditional dingy, poorly lit hole-in-the-wall club show, the series premiere boasted 1,500 strong in attendance at the state of the art arena located across the street from the Staples Center. A true disco atmosphere served as the backdrop for a night that began as a fight card before literally reverting back to a nightclub.

Oh yeah, and there were also a few professional fights. Some damn good ones at that, and evenly matched for the most part.

Most of all, young local talent was not only featured in the debut show, but promised to return sooner rather than later, with the intention of building up said fighters as local attractions while still on the way up.

Everyone made good on the promise; four of the five winning fighters from the inaugural episode return this Thursday, including promising featherweight prospect Charles Huerta (11-0, 6KO). The local favorite (fighting out of nearby Paramount) impressed last month with a third round knockout of Noe Lopez in a battle of undefeated featherweight prospects.

Huerta is matched just as tough in this month’s edition, as he faces Derrick Wilson (4-0-1, 1KO). Like Huerta, the Floridian also enters his second straight contest against an unbeaten foe, coming off of a majority draw against Kermit Gonzalez this past April.

For the second straight show, Huerta is joined by Luis Ramos, a highly touted southpaw from Santa Ana. For the second straight time, Ramos is matched significantly softer than his fellow Golden State prospect.

The unbeaten lightweight, who scored a 5th round knockout of Baudel Cardenas last month, meets Mexican journeyman Sandro Marcos (27-19-2, 23KO). But the mediocre opposition aside, the fight caps a big month for Ramos, who along with stable mates Carlos Molina (7-0, 3KO) and Ronny Rios (5-0, 2KO) recently signed with Golden Boy Promotions.

Molina and Rios, who along with Ramos are managed by Frank Espinoza, also appear on the show in separate tune-up bouts.

All told, seven undefeated fighters appear on the show, five of which qualify as truly local talent. The response from the first show was a clear indication that fans respond to the potential for quality.

Offer the status quo, and boxing continues to struggle on the cult status to which it has been long ago relegated.

Present something fresh and unique with the honored promise of continuing to build and improve, and success will soon follow.

It’s too soon to tell which path this series will ultimately follow. Boxing fans have been promised one thing and offered another far too often in the past.

For the moment, Fight Night Club disrupts the “walks like a duck” theory - enough that their first impression more than warrants a second look.

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One more familiar faces returning to the show is Denver-based Ricky Lopez (4-0, 2KO) who faces pro-debuter Edgar Paralta seven weeks after pitching a shutout against previously unbeaten Rufino Serrano.

Jose Roman (5-0, 4KO), fresh off of his two-round destruction of Ramon Flores in last month’s walkout bout, was slated to appear but had to be scratched at the 11th hour due to an inability to find a suitable enough opponent.

One major difference between last month and this is the presence of a seasoned veteran. On a show loaded with new recruits, fringe middleweight contender Enrique Ornelas (28-5, 18KO) appears to be a fish out of water when glancing at the A-Side of the evening’s bout sheet.

Inactive since his points loss to Marco Antonio Rubio last October, Ornelas returns in a scheduled six-round rust shaker against Roberto Baro (12-6, 9KO). 

WEIGHTS

No real drama at the scales, other than the omission of Jose Roman, who obviously had no reason to weigh in since he had nobody to fight.

The rest of the bout sheet remained intact, with all 14 participants making weight. The full lineup is as follows:

Charles Huerta 125 vs Derrick Wilson 124.4 (Main Event – 6 Rounds, Featherweights)
Luis Ramos Jr. 135 vs Sandro Marcos 134.8 (Co-Main Event – 6 Rounds, Lightweights)
Herman Binek 244.4vs Yohan Banks 260.4 (Televised Opener – 4 Rounds, Heavyweights)
Carlos Molina 138.4 vs Eber Luis Perez 135.4 (Televised Bout – 4/6 Rds, Junior Welterweights)
Ricky Lopez 123.6 vs Eder Peralta 123 (Televised Swing Bout – 4 Rds, Featherweights)
Enrique Ornelas 167.4 vs Roberto Baro 167.2 (Walkout Bout – 6 Rds, Super Middleweight)
Ronny Rios 126.2 vs Rodrigo Aranda 124.4 (Opening Bout -4 Rds, Featherweight)

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.