It isn’t a coincidence that the Red Owl Boxing series will air on Friday nights.

The nine-event series, which begins this Friday, December 1, was inspired by the Friday Night Fights series which ran on ESPN2 from 1998 through 2015, and featured up and coming prospects in make-or-break fights before they ascended to the world title picture. Gabriel Fanous, President of Red Owl Boxing, recalls the series with fondness, and hopes to bring that same energy with his Box Fest series, which will run on DAZN from their own 1,500 seat venue dubbed “The Owl’s Nest” in Houston, Tex.

“We want to pay homage to all of the great broadcasts from the past that made us fall in love with the sport. It’s kind of like a nostalgia play for me,” said Fanous, who is part owner of the Arrow Group of Companies which co-owns the Scarborough Shooting Stars professional basketball team, along with Drake’s OVO.

Fanous is hoping to show with his series that there is another way to present up-and-coming boxing prospects, beginning with the first show, which features unbeaten prospects Jalil Hackett (7-0, 6 knockouts) and Giovanni Marquez (7-0, 5 KOs) in what figures to be their toughest matchups to date. Hackett, 20, of Washington D.C. is promoted by Mayweather Promotions, and will face Adrian Gutierrez (12-1-1, 6 KOs) in an eight-round welterweight bout, while Marquez, a Houston fan favorite who is managed by Split-T Management, faces Joshua David Rivera (8-3, 3 KOs) in a six-round junior welterweight bout.

Fanous says his company is willing to work with other promoters to make the kind of fights where fans can’t immediately guess who is going to win. A self-described lifelong fan of boxing, the Canada based Fanous admits feeling frustration with some aspects of the sport.

He feels a league structure could address much of what ails the sport, and hopes the series can eventually blossom into one.

“We have a lot of our top prospects right now for whatever reason, they’re just not getting the opportunities and consistency in fights they should be getting. If you look at any other sport, your best prospects in their prime are actually getting better and are working on their crafts. I think if you have a league structure, there’s organizational rules, there’s a platform, there’s a place where people can come void of the corruption and politics that are sometimes associated with boxing,” said Fanous.

“Personally, I don’t like the idea that their career may be over if they’ve had one or two losses, that’s something that we’re trying to address. We want to award fighters who are willing to take a chance and get into tough fights.”

Other matchups set for the card include Daniel Bailey (11-1, 5 KOs) against Malik Warren (7-0, 6 KOs) in an eight round lightweight bout, Mia Ellis (7-1, 6 KOs) against Angelica Rascon (10-2, 2 KOs) in a six-round junior featherweight bout, and Ram Gandara (6-0, 3 KOs) against Adrian Leyva (3-4-2, 1 KO) in a four-round junior featherweight bout. Tickets priced from $45 to $150 remain on sale for Friday’s event.

A full schedule for the series has yet to be finalized, though the second installment is expected to air in February.

Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at [email protected].