"Fight Night Club" is staying open for business. It's just moving to a different television network for its second season.
The Golden Boy Promotions monthly boxing show in the nightclub atmosphere of Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles will return in 2010, but it will move from Versus to Fox Sports Net for its second season, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com on Tuesday.
"The show will be back," Schaefer said. "We have finalized a deal with our partners at [venue owner Anschutz Entertainment Group], and we are in the process of finalizing a deal with Fox Sports Net. We have tremendous support from our sponsors. They are also interested in our second season, and more sponsors will be jumping on."
"Fight Night Club" features mostly Southern California-based Golden Boy prospects, as well as fighters to whom the company essentially offers tryouts, fighting in competitive four- and six-round bouts in an intimate atmosphere. The show aired four episodes from July through September on Versus, and Schaefer said Versus declined to pick it up for a second season. But he stressed the company and network have a good relationship, as evidenced by Versus working with Golden Boy on a higher-profile card on Dec. 2 that will be headlined by pound-for-pound star Bernard Hopkins against Enrique Ornelas.
Besides the 12 shows in Los Angeles next year, Schaefer said Golden Boy could do as many as 36 "Fight Night Club" cards because AEG -- which owns a minority stake in Golden Boy along with its arenas around the world -- and Fox are interested in putting on similar cards in other markets.
"There is some interest from our partners at AEG and Fox to maybe do that kind of show in other markets as well," Schaefer said. "AEG owns about 55 venues. They have one in Dallas, which would be perfect for these kinds of cards. We would do the same concept, like 'Fight Night Club Texas.' They have a Nokia Theatre in New York, so maybe we will go there as well."
Schaefer said he and Hopkins, a partner in Golden Boy, have talked about doing perhaps six shows in his hometown of Philadelphia.
"There are a lot of young kids who want to fight and develop a local following in these different markets, and we want to go there," Schaefer said. "They would all be televised on Fox Sports Net. These are not the kinds of events you make a lot of money on, if any. But they are the kinds of events you do to invest in the sport. It's definitely not a big moneymaker. It's an investment in boxing on Golden Boy's part."
Among the prospects featured on the cards have been junior lightweight David Rodela, junior featherweight Ronny Rios, featherweight Charles Huerta, junior welterweight Karl Dargan and lightweight Luis Ramos.