Tickets for the Friday, January 3, 2014, Mendez vs. Barthelemy/Truax vs. Ennis 2014 season kickoff of Friday Night Fights at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, go on sale today (Friday, November 22) at 12 noon. On Friday, January 3, 2014, Iron Mike Productions, Seconds Out Promotions and Warriors Boxing will proudly present the year’s first installment of ESPN Friday Night Fights, featuring two title fights as the featured bouts.
The night’s 12-round main event will be an IBF Super Featherweight Championship fight between champion Argenis Mendez (21-2-1, 11 KOs) of Brooklyn, New York via San Juan, Dominican Republic vs. #1-ranked undefeated challenger Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (19-0, 12 KOs) from Miami, via Cuba.
And in the 10-round televised semi-final, #10 WBO, #13 IBF and USBA Middleweight Champion Caleb “Golden” Truax (23-1, 14 KOs) of Osseo, Minnesota, will face former USBA Champion Derek “Pooh” Ennis (23-4-1, 13 KOs) of Philadelphia in a 10-round non-title bout.
On fight night, doors open at 6 pm, first bell is at 7 pm. ESPN broadcast starts at 8 pm.
27-year-old Mendez will be making the second defense of his IBF title he won in March of this year with a KO 4 over Juan Carlos Salgado. The victory over Salgado also avenged one of only two defeats Mendez has suffered in his distinguished career. He was last seen in the ring fighting to a majority draw against Arash Usmanee in August. Mendez was a 2004 Olympian and previously held the USBA Super Featherweight (2010) and WBA Fedelatin Super Featherweight (2008) Titles.
27-year-old Barthelemy earned his #1 ranking with a KO 2 over Thailand’s Fahsai Sakkreerin last June. Before that, he took a unanimous decision over Arash Usmanee in January. Barthelemy is the younger brother of Olympic Gold Medalist Yan Barthelemy and older brother of Leduan Barthelemy, also a fighter. As an amateur, he was Cuban Junior National Champion.
30-year-old Truax has had a sensational 2013. Fighting out of the Convention Center in Minneapolis, Truax has vanquished two local rivals (UD 10 over Matt Vanda and TKO 4 over Ceresso Fort) and scored a nationally televised TKO 6 over world-rated Donovan George. The victory over Fort garnered him the USBA and Minnesota State Championships. Truax’s only career loss was to world champion Jermain Taylor and Truax had Taylor down in round nine.
33-year-old Ennis is a former USBA and Pennsylvania State Champion. He won the USBA Jr. Middleweight title in October 2009 by unanimous decision in an unforgettable war against Eromosele Albert and defended it successfully via 12-round majority decision over the formidable Gabriel Rosado in 2010 He most recently fought to a close majority decision loss to world-rated contender Jonathan Gonzalez. Ennis’s brother, Farah, is a well-regarded super middleweight contender and his father, Derrick “Bozy” Ennis, was also a pro fighter.