Much will be new for Portland’s undefeated middleweight boxer Russell Lamour when he steps into the ring Friday night.

It will be the first time he’s defended a title. His New England middleweight crown is on the line.

Lamour is making his first appearance boxing at Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Most significant in terms of his rising career arc, this will be the 11-0 Lamour’s first televised fight. He’ll be the co-main event on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights (9 p.m.).

One thing will be familiar in the scheduled eight-round bout.

His opponent.

Lamour boxed Tommy Falowo, 26, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, five times when both were amateurs. Lamour won the first four, Falowo took the last meeting.

“He turned pro before I did,” Lamour, 32, said earlier this week. “He’s definitely gotten better since we fought but he’s basically the same.”

Falowo is 12-3 as a pro. He lost his last fight Aug. 30, a seventh- round TKO against unbeaten super middleweight Ronald Gavril in Las Vegas.

“The matchup is a good style matchup,” said Bobby Russo, Lamour’s trainer and the owner of the Portland Boxing Club where Lamour has trained since he started boxing as a teenager.

“Falowo is a straight-ahead guy who’s always active. Russell is a much better boxer and will outbox him,” Russo said.

“It’s like an old rivalry that’s now coming into the pros,” Lamour said.

“I feel like this is a really good fight for me because I’m defending the New England title and also, I feel this fight will take me higher, especially now being on national TV.”

Lamour is also the International Boxing Association North American middleweight champ. That title is not on the line.

The titles were vacant when Lamour claimed them.

He took the New England title last June when he beat Laatekwei Hammond of Worcester, Massachusetts, at the Portland Expo.

The IBA North American title came when he won a unanimous 8-round decision by punishing Ahsandi Gibbs at the Expo on Nov. 15.

Lamour and Russo believe a victory against Falowo, especially if it is impressive, will help him rise in the middleweight ranks.

Lamour has never fought as a professional outside New England.

“Everyone in the boxing world will be watching. Promoters and what-not will be watching,” Lamour said. “Right here is where I need to put a name to myself even more.”

A loss likely would slow Lamour’s progression.

“Pro boxing is a business. Every fight is super important and this is a tough fight,” Russo said. “Absolutely this fight is hugely important and we want to stay undefeated.”

A graduate of Deering High, Lamour is a junior program worker at Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland. Tuesday was his one-year anniversary on the job.

“We’re correctional officers basically but in the juvenile system we go by a different name,” Lamour said.

He said winning Friday’s fight will not mean he’ll be giving up his full-time day job.

Instead it will help fuel a burning desire to continue with a sport he took up when he was “17 or 18,” and included more than 100 fights as an amateur.

“It makes me feel great to get a TV fight,” Lamour said. “I’ve put in so much work to get to this point and now I just have to continue to put in the hard work to get higher in the rankings and bigger payday.”

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