By Jake Donovan, photos by Stephanie Trapp

Fight week has officially kicked off in Las Vegas, with swarms of fans and media from around the world in town for the epic May 2 clash between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. 

A series of events lead up to Saturday fight night, including two major shows in town beginning with a special Thursday night edition of ESPN2 Friday Night Fights. Headlining the show at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, former junior middleweight titlist Ishe Smith faces Cecil McCalla. Both fighters made weight for their scheduled 10 round bout; Smith was 155.4 lbs. at Thursday’s weigh-in, while McCalla was slightly lighter at 154.6 lbs.

Smith (26-7, 12KOs) comes in having lost two of his last three, including a 12-round loss to Carlos Molina to end his title reign at one and done. A 12-round win over Cornelius Bundrage in Feb. ’13 saw Smith become the first ever Las Vegas-born fighter to win a major title—a remarkable statistic given the city is regarded as the fight capital of the world. 

Hard luck has followed, though nothing new in Smith’s career. The 36-year old came up short in a hard-fought 12-round battle with Erislandy Lara in San Antonio last December, his most recent ring appearance. 

McCalla (20-1, 7KOs) suffered his first career loss in his last fight, a 10-round split decision versus Chris van Heerden this past January. The bout marks the first career trip to Vegas for McCalla, a 30-year old prospect based out of Randallstown, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore, whose city at large is undergoing an uprising in the wake of the April 18 death of Freddie Gray—an African-American male—at the hands of the Baltimore City Police Department. 

In the evening’s co-feature, Ashley Theophane (37-6-1, 11KOs) faces Mahonri Montes (30-4-1, 21KOs) in a scheduled 10-round welterweight contest. 

The show is presented by Mayweather Promotions.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox