By Miguel Maravilla at ringside

In an emotional atmosphere on Friday night at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California, Thompson Boxing, which recently lost their President Ken Thompson, presented their final boxing event after 23 great years in the fight game.

In the main event, welterweight prospect, Louie Lopez (14-2-1, 5 KOs) from Corona, California scored a third-round knockout over Benjamin Lamptey (13-12-9, 2 KOs) of Accra, Ghana. Lopez came out aggressive in the opening round, attacking the body and backing Lamptey as he shelled up. Continuing to rip to the body in round two, Lopez pounded away as Lamptey was limited with his offense. Lopez dropped Lamptey twice to start the third round with a series of body shots and referee Ray Corona reached a ten count and final bell for Thompson Boxing at 1:22 of the third.

Super featherweight, George “El Yuyu” Acosta (16-1, 3 KOs) from Whitter, California stopped Edy Valencia Mercado (20-12-6, 7 KOs) of Culiacan, Sinaloa Mexico in the co-main event. A fast-paced opening round with Acosta jabbing and Mercado stalking going straight forward wanting to fight. Acosta boxed, jabbed, and countered in round two as Mercado kept coming. Continuing to box in the third, Acosta’s jab was the key in setting most shots as Mercado was on the receiving end of the punches but that did not stop him from pressuring. In the fourth, Acosta kept the pace and boxed but Mercado punched wildly and stayed close, but in the closing seconds a short right hand sat Mercado down. Past the halfway point in fifth, Acosta kept boxing and outworking Mercado. The Mexican had enough as he could not come out for the sixth, the referee waved off the bout at the end of the fifth.

Middleweight prospect Nelson Oliva (8-0, 7 KOs) of Los Angeles stopped San Antonio’s Jeremaine Whittington (2-2, 1 KO) in two. A feel-out first round as the southpaw Oliva stuck the jab and landed some short punches on the inside. Oliva dropped Whittington twice to start round two, there was no stopping Oliva’s relentless attack as he finished off Whittington sending him to the canvas for the third and final time as referee Ray Corona waved off the bout at 1:57 of round two.

Murrieta, California’s welterweight Kevin Salgado (3-1, 1 KO) made quick work of Izaiah Vargas (1-7, 1 KO) stopping him in the first round. Coming out banging, Salgado got the better of the exchange as a vicious body shot dropped Vargas. Continuing to fight, Salgado attacked the body profusely as the referee had seen enough stepping in to stop the fight at 2:08.

In the opening bout, local welterweight Esteban Munoz (7-3, 4 KO’s) from San Bernadino won a hard fought six round unanimous decision over Nelson Morales (4-8, 1 KO) of Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was all jabs for both fighters in the opening round and in the closing second of the round, Munoz got Morales’s attention with a clean shot. Attacking to begin round two, Munoz showed more offense, but Morales fought back staying busy, heckling at Munoz, and showboating in the process. Continuing to have fun in round three Morales trash talked as Munoz stayed busy peppering and connecting.

Morales came out aggressively attacking in the fourth but appeared to gas out as Munoz spent most of the fourth stalking and taking it to Morales. It was Munoz that was the busier fighter late in the fight as Morales spent most of the time keeping his distance but managed to make it the distance. After six rounds the judges scored the bout 60-54, 59-55, and 59-55 as Munoz scored the victory.

Thompson Boxing’s Legacy

Founded by Ken Thompson in 2000, Thompson Boxing Promotions established itself and became one of the premier club show series hosting it’s first series in Ontario, shortly after establishing its series at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California as well as hosting private shows from the Doubletree Hotel on Orange, California, and other intimate locations. The company began to co-promote with major networks, the first was in 2007 from one of the company’s warehouses, Omega International in Corona, California, collaborating with Showtime. Soon after, Thompson Boxing began hosting more televised events from their venues with Telefutura, Fox Deportes, and ESPN.

Building and promoting some of the best talent in the Inland Empire and throughout Southern California. Thompson Boxing’s first major talent included, 2023 Hall of Fame inductee Timothy Bradley Jr. promoting him to his first world title when he beat Junior Witter for the WBC super lightweight title in 2008. Soon to follow on to the big stage included heavyweight fan favorite Chris Arreola who would go on to world title challenges. Others that followed included welterweight Josesito Lopez, world champions Yohnny Perez, Jonathan Romero, and Daniel Roman. Most recently, current undefeated welterweight Giovanni Santillan currently ranked in the top 10.

Friday night’s finale included 5 fights, in attendance were Thompson Boxing fan-favorites Chris Arreola, Josesito Lopez, Mauricio Herrera, and Sindy “Alacrana” Amador, former world champion Paul Banke, Oscar Torres, Artemio Reyes, trainer Joel Diaz, Carlos Bojorquez, and Timothy Bradley’s father Ray Bradley.

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