ESPN2 to Launch “Kay-Rod,” A Sunday Night Baseball Broadcast Featuring Alex Rodriguez & Michael Kay

Alex Rodriguez’s Sunday night card is filling up…

For eight games on ESPN2, the 46-year-old Dominican American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, nicknamed “A-Rod,” will join veteran commentator Michael Kay for Sunday Night Baseball with Kay-Rod.

Alex RodriguezThe broadcast will be similar to the ManningCasts that featured former quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning during Monday Night Football this season.

A-Rod’s new show will feature special guests as well as fantasy baseball and predictive elements.

Rodriguez and Kay will also serve as the primary broadcast team for two games during the 2022 season.

Meanwhile, Eduardo Perez will also be joining the ESPN team on Sunday nights.

The 52-year-old Cuban American former professional baseball player, coach and current television sports color commentator will serve as an analyst for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts.

Perez had a 13-season career that ended in 2006. He worked for ESPN from 2006 to 2010, left for Cleveland’s front office, coached for Miami and Houston, and returned to ESPN in 2014.

Pablo Cesar Cano to Fight Fidel Maldonado Jr. at the Dallas Cowboys Training Facility

Pablo Cesar Cano is ready to rumble…

The 27-year-old Mexican professional boxer will face off against fellow hard-hitting junior welterweight Fidel Maldonado Jr. in a 10-round fight on June 17 at the Tostitos Championship Plaza at The Star in Frisco, Texas, according to Golden Boy Promotions.

Pablo Cesar Cano

The fight, which will be the first boxing event to take place at the training facility of the Dallas Cowboys, will headline a “Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN” card (ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, 10 p.m. ET).

Cano (30-5-1, 21 KOs), a former interim junior welterweight titlist, is as battle-tested as they come, though he lost his biggest fights — decisions against Paulie Malignaggi and Shane Mosley and a 10th-round knockout to Erik Morales in a 2011 junior welterweight world title fight. But he’s also coming off a 10-round split decision against fringe contender Mauricio Herrera in November and hoping to score another win and move on to a bigger fight.

“Even though I have been a professional for 11 years, I feel like I am just hitting my prime,” Cano said. “With a win over Maldonado, I feel like I will be ready to take on the top opponents at 140 pounds and compete for a world title.”

Maldonado (23-3-1, 19 KOs), a 25-year-old southpaw from Albuquerque, New Mexico, is 4-0-1 in his past five bouts since suffering a fifth-round knockout loss to contender Amir Imam in January 2015.

“I can’t wait to get in the ring with Cano and show the Texas fans what I’m all about,” Maldonado said. “People may call this a crossroads fight, but I’m only interested in taking one road — toward a world championship.”

In the co-feature, San Antonio’s Joshua Franco (10-0, 5 KOs), 21, and 24-year-old Oscar Mojica (10-2, 1 KO), of Dallas, will engage in an all-Texas junior bantamweight fight scheduled for eight rounds.

Dallas junior welterweight prospect Vergil Ortiz Jr. (5-0, 5 KOs), who is just 19, will face an opponent to be determined in his first scheduled six-round bout.

Other Dallas-based Golden Boy prospects — junior lightweight Javier Martinez (1-0, 1 KO) and junior middleweight Alex Rincon (1-0, 1 KO) — will also appear on the card as will San Antonio junior lightweight prospect Hector Tanajara Jr. (8-0, 4 KOs).

Serrano Defeats Yazmin Rivas to Retain WBO Junior Featherweight Title

Amanda Serrano is tightening her belt…

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican professional boxer defeated Yazmin Rivas by unanimous decision to retain the WBO junior featherweight title over the weekend in the first nationally televised English-language women’s world title bout in the United States since 2007.

Amanda Serrano

The judges scored the fight 97-93, 98-92, 99-91 to give Serrano the victory at Barclays Center in her hometown of Brooklyn.

The Puerto Rico-born Serrano (31-1-1, 23 KOs) landed 33 percent of her punches while Rivas (35-10-1, 10 KOs) landed just 20 percent, according to CompuBox, as the two women went the distance in the 10-round bout.

“We wanted the knockout, but I was ready for 10 rounds,” Serrano said. “People who think I’m just a brawler saw that I’m a great boxer today.”

Rivas, who took home $15,000 for the fight, still has yet to be knocked out in her professional career, while Serrano, who took home $17,500, carried a knockout percentage of 72 heading into the matchup — a rate unrivaled among the top women fighting in the junior featherweight division.

Still, Serrano went after Rivas aggressively throughout the fight, throwing 431 power punches and landing 177 (44 percent), while Rivas threw nearly 100 fewer and landed only 29 percent (97 of 332).

“She hit hard, but I hit her harder,” Serrano said. “I could hear her breathing in between rounds and I knew I had her.

“It was a great night for women’s boxing, and I hope it keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

The three judges scored all 10 rounds within a one-point margin, with their scorecards reflecting Serrano’s dominance in the middle rounds and strong performance in the final round to close it out.

“It was an excellent fight,” Rivas said. “I knew everything was against me and to win I had to knock her out. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen today.”

Serrano’s victory aired on Showtime Extreme, a subnetwork of Showtime, on the undercard of the network’s doubleheader headlined by the Badou JackJames DeGale super middleweight world title unification bout.

The last women’s world title fight on English-language television in the U.S. was Mary Jo Sanders‘ defeat of Valerie Mahfood by unanimous decision to retain her International Boxing Association female middleweight title on March 30, 2007, on ESPN2.

A week before that fight, Fox Sports Net televised Holly Holm defeating Ann Saccurato to win the IBA female world welterweight title, the WBC female world welterweight title, the WBA world female welterweight title and the International Female Boxers Association world welterweight title.

Serrano-Rivas also was the first women’s fight on a Showtime network (non-pay-per-view) since 2000.

Mendez to Defend His Junior Lightweight Title Against Rances Barthelemy

It looks like the New Year will bring Argenis Mendez some Friday Night Fights

The 27-year-old Dominican boxer, the reigning junior lightweight titlist, will defend his title against Rances Barthelemy on January 3 as the new season of ESPN2‘s Friday Night Fights kicks off with the first of 26 cards, said Warriors Boxing promoter Leon Margules.

Argenis Mendez

The Mendez-Barthelemy bout will take place at Minneapolis’ Target Center and feature an appearance by card co-promoter Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight champion.

Mendez (21-2-1, 11 Kos) won the title in March by knocking out Juan Carlos Salgado in the fourth round.

In his first defense, Mendez retained the belt, escaping with a majority draw against Arash Usmanee on Aug. 23.

Barthelemy (19-0, 12 KOs), a 27-year-old Cuban defector living in Miami, knocked out Thailand’s Fahsai Sakkreerin in the second round in a June 21 title elimination fight to earn the mandatory title shot against Mendez.

Iron Mike Productions is excited to be hosting the first ESPN Friday Night Fights show of 2014,” Iron Mike Productions chief executive Garry Jonas said. “We closed the 2013 ESPN Friday Night Fights season with an exciting championship fight [Mendez-Usmanee], and now we’re opening 2014 with an exciting championship fight.”

Margules, who promotes Barthelemy, won the purse bid for the fight in October, offering $51,000 as the only bidder. That bid entitles Mendez, as the titleholder, to 75 percent of the money ($38,250) with Barthelemy getting the remaining 25 percent ($12,750).

“This will be Rances Barthelemy, my fighter’s, first world title shot, and I’m very excited for him and his chances to bring the belt home,” Margules said.