Friday night at the Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario Ca., TKO Promotions and ESPN treated Inland Empire fight fans to a night of boxing featuring a list of local talent who set the stage for a entertaining bout between the WBC USNBC welterweight title holder Demetrius Hopkins and Mike Arnaoutis in the main event.

Successfully defending his title for the first time, Demetrius Hopkins (30-1-1 11 KOs) would win unanimously in a crowd pleasing ten round performance over one-time contender “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis (23-5-2 10 KOs), who was dealt his third straight loss.  Arnaoutis couldn't seem to find his rhythm but came to fight, attacking Hopkins to the body with hard lefts through out the fight. Hopkins proved to have too much movement and precision, out-boxing Arnaoutis to a clear decision with scores of 99-91, 99-91, 100-90. Arnaoutis did not impress the judges but managed to win over the crowd who cheered for him despite the loss.

In the Co-feature, undefeated lightweight Fransisco Contreras (15-0 13 KOs) retained his “0” with an unimpressive performance over Eric Cruz (7-4-3 7 KOs). Contreras, who took the fight on short notice looked a bit confused and unable to find his rhythm but managed to pull out an eight round unanimous decision with scores of 80-72, 80-72 and 78-74. Despite the one-sided cards Cruz did have his moments through out the fight, unfortunately for him Contreras always managed to do a little more.

Opening the show before the live broadcast of ESPN's Friday Night Fights were a number of local up and comers.

Super Bantamweight sensation Randy Caballero (4-0 4 KOs) annihilated  Jairo Delgado (3-7 3 KOs) at 2:00 of the first round.  Delgado was hit so hard he grabbed and would not let go of Caballero's leg as he tried to go to the neutral corner.  Delgado was able to make it to his feet but was clearly unable to continue. Delgado was still wobbly as he left the ring!

Welterweight Joseph Elgele (9-0 7 KOs) stopped Willie Walton (4-2 3 KOs) at 1:37 of round one.  Elgele who was highly favored had a rougher night than expected. Elgele started the fight by out-classing, punching and moving Walton until he was caught with a right hand in the first round momentarily stunning him. A willful Walton brought the fight to Elgele until the third round when the ref stepped in and stopped the fight after a flurry of unanswered shots

Eric Mendez (1-0) was successful in his pro debut, stopping Jose Evangelista (0-1) at 2:51 of the first round.  Evangelista was dropped midway through the first but was able to  beat the count only to be knocked out with a vicious left hook immediately after.

Perris California's Alex Jimenez (2-0) won a four round unanimous decision over Edgar Flores (0-3) after four rounds of action. Jimenez looked a little confused in his second bout as a professional but soon settled in and dominated the entire four rounds. Scores were 40-36 on all three cards.

Welterweight Michael Finney (4-0 4 KOs) scored a first round KO over John Dunham (1-7-2) to remain unbeaten. Finney landed a straight right hand at the 35 second mark that sent Dunham crumbling to the canvas and unable to continue.  

Austreberto Juarez (10-0 2 KOs) won a unanimous decision over Joseph Rios (7-5-1 2 KOs) after six rounds. Scores were 60-54 three times.

Indio California's Gabino Saenz (1-0 1 KO) scored a first round KO over Brandon Sanchez (1-3-0 1 KO) just seconds into the first round. Saenz definitely had the support of the crowd as I saw half the crowd sporting Team Saenz shirts!

Also in attendance was Timothy Bradley, trainer Joel Diaz and Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo