Where would you celebrate your 10-year anniversary if you were one of boxing’s most successful and legendary programs?

For ESPN’s Friday Night Fights, the answer is Austin.

The long-running program will travel to the heart of Texas on Sept. 5 to broadcast the 10-round junior middleweight bout between Ricardo Cortes (22-2-1, 15 KOs) and the up-and-coming Austin native James Kirkland (22-0, 19 KOs) at the Austin Music Hall.

The anniversary broadcast will be complete with results from fan voting on titles such as “KO of the decade” and “Fight of the decade” and a profile on former boxer and Kirkland’s current trainer Ann Wolfe, who runs her own gym out of Austin.

More than a month after his nationally televised in-ring collapse that left him in a coma, it appears the Oscar Diaz may finally be making progress, albeit a small progress.

According to a 411mania.com podcast, Diaz is still in a coma, but a medically-induced coma giving the brain more time to recover. Diaz is still unable to talk but has responded to “verbal commands,” making blinking motions in recognition of close ones, the podcast said.

The recent developments come as good news for the chances of Diaz, who took heavy blows during the July 16 edition of ESPN’s Wednesday Night Fights from his opponent Delvin Rodriguez. Diaz eventually was unable to continue the fight, collapsing in his corner before the 11^th round. The San Antonio native, where the fight was held, was rushed to the hospital after for surgery to reduce swelling in his brain.

At the time, doctors predicted Diaz would recover from the surgery, deemed successful, but the boxer has remained in the coma since.

Wednesday starts the state of Texas’ two-fight flirtation with the national boxing media. Light heavyweights Chris Henry (21-1, 17 KOs) and Rubin Williams (29-4-1, 16 KOs) will headline this week’s Wednesday Night Fights on ESPN2 at Houston’s Grand Plaza Hotel. The 10-round main event will be the first action for the Houston native Henry, the current NABF Light Heavyweight Champion, since his controversial unanimous decision loss against Adrian Diaconu for the interim WBC Light Heavyweight title.

“I thought I did more than enough to beat Adrian and it will make me a better and more complete champion in the long run, but I have put that behind me and have now focused all of my energies on getting rid of Rubin,” Henry told FightHype.com. “I am really looking forward to knocking him unconscious for the ten count and putting him on ice.”

Williams is coming off of a TKO loss against Andre Ward in March, which pushed his losing streak to two.

The Houston fight will mark the first of two Texas fights to be broadcasted on ESPN2 in July. San Antonio’s own Oscar Diaz (26-2, 12 KOs) will face off against Delvin Rodriguez (22-2-1, 13 KOs) in the headliner for the July 16 version of Wednesday Night Fights at the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium. The fight will be for the vacant USBA Welterweight title.

Diaz’s was impressive in his last outing, an unanimous decision against Roberto Valenzuela where Diaz never looked in trouble. Rodriguez also impressed fans is his last bout, an unanimous decision against Troy Browning in another ESPN2 broadcasted event.

Chris Smith (21-5, 13 KOs) has made it known that he would like to face the winner of Diaz-Rodriguez. Smith, who says he was promised an eventual rematch with Diaz after losing a unanimous decision last summer, told EastsideBoxing.com that he hoped Diaz’s camp would not “duck and dodge me.”

The national spotlight will shine even brighter on Texas on Sept. 6 when Australia’s Michael Katsidis (23-1, 20 KOs), whose fight against Graham Earl last year was nominated for Fight of the Year, will face off against Juan Diaz (33-1, 17 KOs) in Houston’s Toyota Center. The bout will be aired on HBO.

- Colby White