By Jake Donovan

It was a successful evening at the scales, at least for the fighters able to make it to the pre-fight weigh in for the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights telecast at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois. A pair of four-round fighters – Mike Kurzeja and Thadeus Hamlin – were no-shows, but everyone else on the show made weight on the first try.

The weigh-in was scheduled to begin at 7PM, but with the crowd already filing in at the Oaks Hotel in Burr Ridge, IL, cruiserweight contender Tomasz Adamek (34-1, 23KO) agreed to jump on the scale early to give the people what they wanted. The chiseled Polish warrior weighed in at 201 lb, as did his opponent, Gary Gomez (18-9-1, 7KO) of Salt Lake City, UT.

Adamek is the main attraction for tomorrow night's show, but hardly the only fighter to which the heavily-Polish populated crowd can relate. Also appearing on the telecast are countrymen Andzej Fonfara and Mariusz Wach.

Andrzej Fonfara (10-1, 3KO) weighed in at 159 lb. for his 8-round middleweight co-feature against Derrick Findley (11-2, 6KO) of nearby Gary, IN, who was one pound heavier.

At 261 lb., Mariusz Wach (16-0, 7KO) boasts a 25 lb, weight advantage against Washington prospect Eric Boose (14-2-1, 8KO). The two will throw down in a heavyweight swing bout scheduled for six rounds or less.

Doors open at 6:30PM for the card, with the first non-televised bout scheduled to begin at 7:15PM local time. The televised portion of the show begins 8PM (9PM ET/6PM PT).

Full weigh-in results:

Televised bouts

Main Event - 10 Rounds, Cruiserweights
Tomasz Adamek (Golwice, Poland 34-1, 22KO) 201 lb
Gary Gomez (Salt Lake City, UT 18-9-1, 7KO) 201 lb

Co-Feature - 8 Rounds, Middleweights
Andrzej Fonfara (Warsaw, Poland 10-1, 3KO) 159 lb
Derrick Findley (Chicago, IL 11-2, 6KO) 160 lb

Televised Swing Bout - 6 Rounds, Heavyweights
Mariusz Wach (Krakow, Poland 16-0, 7KO) 261 lb
Eric Boose (Puyallap, WA 14-2-1, 8KO) 236 lb

Non-Televised Bouts

Opening Bout – 6 Rounds, Super Middleweights
Piotr Wilczewski (Golwice, Poland 18-0, 5KO) 170 lb
Thomas Reid (Jackson, TN 35-22-1, 13KO) 170 lb

Swing Bout #1 – 6 Rounds, Super Middleweights
Gerald Taylor (Chicago, IL 3-0-1, 2KO) 174 lb
Walter Foster (Berkely, MO 3-0, 3KO) 171.5 lb

Swing Bout #2 – 4 Rounds, Cruiserweights
Dervidas Nekrases (Chicago, IL 3-0, 3KO) 197 lb
Quinton Smith (Memphis, TN 2-3, 0KO) 196 lb

Swing Bout #3 – 4 Rounds, Light Heavyweights
Mike Kurzeja (Chicago, IL Pro Debut) Weight TBD
Thadeus Hamlin (Cincinnati, OH 0-1) Weight TBD

The event is presented by Main Events and 8 Count Productions.

Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com