It was a risk the team was willing to take after 30 years of the same successful formula.

Venturing out beyond its reliable go-to regions of Central and South Florida and Mexico City, however, wasn’t a rash decision made by All Star Boxing, Inc. and the Telemundo brass.

“We didn’t want to just enter a new market for the sake of showing a new location,” Felix ‘Tutico’ Zabala Jr., president and CEO of All Star Boxing told BoxingScene.com in bringing Friday’s edition of Boxeo Telemundo to the Buffalo, New York area. “We also didn’t want to just package up a regular Florida show and put it where those fighters don’t connect with the fans.”

The end result is a beyond-capacity crowd that will be on hand for Friday’s card at Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino in Niagara Falls, New York, marking the first time a Boxeo Telemundo show will air live from this part of the world in the series’ 30-year history. Headlining the card, junior welterweight prospect Emanuel ‘Pinky’ Colon (16-1-1, 15KOs)—a Puerto Rico native who now lives and trains in Buffalo—squares off with Mexico’s Richard Zamora (19-3, 12KOs).

“Of course, we had to keep some things the same,” jokes Zabala Jr., noting the longstanding Puerto Rico versus Mexico theme accompanying the main event.

Colon is among the many regional attractions on the card, as well as fellow Boricua transplant, unbeaten Wilfredo ‘El Bravo Vega’ Flores (7-0, 3KOs) who lives in nearby Dunkirk, New York. The two led the charge of fighters based in the greater Buffalo area ensuring that the town resonated with the local flavor on display.

“All (but one) of the fights on this card features at least one fighter from Buffalo,” points out Zabala Jr. “We have worked very hard with our partners at Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino to make this New York (state) debut a success.”

The presentation immediately took, with all tickets having sold out in the first week of October, more than two weeks ahead of fight night. Seven of the eight bouts offer at least one local attraction, the lone exception featuring boxing royalty—comebacking former contender Maureen Shea (27-2-1, 12KOs), best known for preparing Hillary Swank on the boxing side for her Academy Award-winning performance in the 2005 film Million Dollar Baby.

In addition to headlining the show, Colon makes his Telemundo debut along with fighting anywhere in the lower 48 states for just the fourth time in his career. It’s his third overall fight in the upstate New York region, the last coming four years ago almost to the day.

With any luck, the next one will come much sooner and subsequent showing a recurring theme.

“This is definitely not a one-and-run show for us,” insists Zabala Jr. “We are excited about what we are going to do next year.

“We are honored to bring this type of energy to the Buffalo/Niagara Falls region and intend for Boxeo Telemundo to be here to stay.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox