ESPN2 to show boxing
bouts from Paragon
By Randy Benson
(318) 487-6431
The Deuce is coming to Central Louisiana.
ESPN2 will broadcast the co-main events of a Feb. 29 boxing card from Paragon Casino Resort in Marksville as part of its "Friday Night Fights" series.
"It is a great honor for Paragon to play host to ESPN," said Linda Bordelon, vice president of public relations for the casino. "Our state of the art facility, the Mari Center, lends itself perfectly to this type of event. It was designed with television production in mind.
"ESPN was quick to recognize the Mari Center as a unique world-class sporting event center."
The deal was finalized last week. The televised portion of the card will begin at 7 p.m. Ticket prices have not been announced.
"We had to give them (ESPN2) a blockbuster show to get the time slot," said Kerry Daigle, president and director of boxing for Keep Punching Entertainment. Daigle's wife, Mickey Daigle, will be the promoter for the card.
Kerry Daigle declined to reveal the names of the boxers for the co-main events, saying an announcement would be coming soon.
ESPN has not made a formal announcement of the event, but the network now lists two 10-round fights from Marksville on its Web site, www.espn.com.
According to the Web site, the main event will be a junior middleweight (154 pounds, sometimes called super welterweight) bout with Sechew Powell (22-1), who is the No. 1-ranked challenger in the International Boxing Federation, meeting Kevin Finley (12-0-1).
The co-main event will be a super middleweight (168 pounds) bout between Allan Green (26-1), ranked No. 14 in the world by both the IBF and the World Boxing Organization, and Samuel Miller (18-2).
"This fight is extremely prestigious," Bordelon said. "The main event boxers are well-known and have outstanding reputations in the boxing world."
This will be the second time ESPN has televised boxing from Paragon. |
