By Francisco Salazar
Looks like former world title holder Randall Bailey will fight Francisco Santana on January 9 at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California.
The 10 round bout will kick off the 2015 season of "Friday Night Fights" on ESPN2. In the main event, Darleys Perez will defend his interim WBA lightweight title against Jonathan Maicelo.
Gary Shaw Productions will promote the card.
Bailey (44-8, 37 KOs) has not fought since November 23, 2013, when he won by disqualification in the eighth round over Humberto Toledo. Prior to that bout, the 40-year-old Bailey had not fought since losing a 12 round unanimous decision to Devon Alexander on October 20 of 2012.
Bailey steps in as a replacement for Sebastian Lujan.
Santana (21-3-1, 10 KOs) resides in nearby Santa Barbara and has won his last nine bouts in a row. His best win to date was a 10 round unanimous decision over Eddie Gomez on June 6.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Salazar also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
