Frank Espinoza proved something to his promoter, Paco Damian, during his pro debut in November.

Espinoza will fight again this Friday against Jose Madrigal in a six-round middleweight bout at the Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California. The event will be a telecast on DAZN. 

Espinoza, 1-0 (1 KO), started boxing nationally after the pandemic and was overjoyed to fight at home in Sacramento for his professional debut. For that fight he sold over 200 tickets. 

Then, the day before the weigh-in, his opponent pulled out of the fight. This left Damian, his promoter, scrabbling for a suitable replacement, which he found in the form of Lonnie Campbell. Or so he thought. 

“My job was to figure out how he was going to fight,” Damian said. “We are in California, which requires a lot of medicals, so we had to find an opponent that the commission would approve. So, we found this guy, and the news was that he was a little bit heavy.” 

Damian called Espinoza and his team. He explained the weight situation and said the bout would be made at a catchweight of 174lbs. The team agreed to take the fight. Campbell showed up to the weigh-in and came in at 184.5lbs. 

“Something that stood out to me was how cool, calm, and collected he was during the whole process,” Damian said. “Frank always said, ‘I will fight him, I don’t care.’” 

They made the fight happen, as Ray Woods, the Sacramento legendary boxing coach who trains Damian, reassured him that they were ready. Damian knew that if Espinoza won or looked good, he was the hero, but if anything went wrong, he’d rather not think about it, given the situation. 

As it happened, Espinoza knocked Campbell out inside just 26 seconds of the first round. 

“It was a crazy experience,” Espinoza said. “I had to gain weight very fast; more hydration for me, I guess.” 

Now, the 20-year-old Espinoza is fighting as part of a DAZN telecast. He is excited for many reasons. It is his first professional fight on a big stage with high-quality production. It is also his first six-round fight. 

His opponent, Madrigal, 8-9 (6 KOs), enters having defeated Fernando Miguel Tamayo Alvarez in December via an eight-round unanimous decision. It snapped the skid for the 27-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico, as Madrigal knocked in consecutive bouts prior to Miguel Gaona and Loick Lahaie.

“This camp has just been more hard work,” Espinoza said. “It is the same people, same team, same dedication.”