Sources within the camp of San Francisco junior welterweight contender Karim Mayfield (16-0-1, 10 KOs) informed TQBR Friday that the headlining bout for the Aug. 17 edition of ESPN2 Friday Night Fights will likely be Mayfield and Mauricio Herrera (18-2, 7 KOs) of Lake Elsinore, Calif. at a venue still to be determined in Mayfield’s city. The fight will take place at the Kezar Pavilion and will be promoted by Mississippi based Prize Fight Promotions.
There was a possibility that Mayfield might travel abroad to fight Khabib Allakhverdiev in Russia, but instead Mayfield will return to his hometown for the first time since June 2010 when he stopped Sergio Joel De La Torre at the Kezar Pavilion on a card that was co-promoted by his brother Laron.
Herrera confirmed to TQBR earlier Friday via phone that the fight has been presented to him and his team has accepted, though the contracts still need to be signed.
Mayfield is coming off an ESPN2 headlining breakthrough victory over Raymond Serrano in May while Herrera is coming off a spirited decision loss to Mike Alvarado on a Top Rank pay-per-view undercard in April.
Mayfield has tons of experience sparring Mike Dallas Jr., who lost a questionable decision to Herrera on ESPN2 last June.
The Aug. 17 date is the last one on ESPN’s boxing schedule for 2012 and a Mayfield-Herrera matchup wouldn’t be a bad way to close the year, as it would likely leave a more positive taste in people’s mouths than some of the main events that have been shown earlier this year.
Mark Ortega can be reached via e-mail at ortegaliitr@gmail.com and followed via Twitter at www.twitter.com/MarkEOrtega. Mark also contributes to renowned boxing publications RING Magazine and Boxing Monthly, and is a member of the Boxing Writer’s Association of America and RING Ratings Advisory Panel.
