By Francisco Salazar

Dusty Hernandez Harrison wants to keep the momentum going after being out of the ring for two and a half years.

Harrison returns to the ring tonight against Fred Jenkins, Jr. at the Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington, Maryland. The eight-round bout KWB Promotions card.

Harrison (31-0-1, 17 knockouts), who resides in Washington, DC and has a significant following in the area, fought on Mar. 30 in New Albany, Indiana, knocking out veteran Bruce Rumbolz in the opening round.

The 24-year-old Harrison had not fought since defeating fringe welterweight contender Thomas LaManna by decision in September of 2016. He had been under contract with Roc Nation, who granted him his release in June.

Harrison had a fight lined up in February on a fight card in New Cumberland, West Virginia, but his opponent never showed up to the weigh-in and a suitable opponent was not found in time.

At Friday’s weigh-in, Harrison, who fought at welterweight before the long period out of the ring, weighed in at 163 pounds. Jenkins weighed 162.5 pounds.

“I feel great,” Harrison told Boxingscene Thursday night. “I went immediately back to the gym after my last fight. Jenkins is a solid, durable fighter (and) I expect to get good rounds in.”

As far as when he would like to return to the ring, Harrison is hoping he can fight again next month.

“I would love to fight in May. I want to stay extremely busy to make up for lost time.”

Jenkins (10-5, 3 KOs), who resides in Philadelphia, has lost four of his last five bouts. He will be fighting in his first scheduled eight-round bout.

Also on the card, heavyweight Mike Balogun (12-0, 9 KOs) will square off against Marquis Valentine (5-5, 2 KOs) in a six-round bout. Hard-hitting Montez Brown (8-0, 6 KOs) and Joe Jones (9-1, 7 KOs) will clash in a six-round cruiserweight bout.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing