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Bakersfield Boxer to make Las Vegas boxing debut

Posted at 7:55 PM, Jun 14, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-14 22:56:49-04

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Local boxer Miguel Contreras will fulfill a life-long dream of fighting in Las Vegas on June 23.

“If you would have told me when I was a 8-year old little chubby kid walking into the police activities league that I’d be fighting at MGM Grand in Vegas, I’d have looked at you like you were crazy.”

Contreras, who goes by Caveman, has amassed a 10-0 record with six knockouts in his professional career that is just beginning to take off.

"It feels like I have to pinch myself like I'm dreaming," he said. "Ever since I was a little kid, it was like, one day, I’ll fight in Vegas and I even got my dream gloves, I’m fighting in Grants and those are the gloves I’ve wanted to fight in.”

The fighter graduated from Bakersfield High School and grew up in Kern County. He never thought he'd be the one stepping into the ring.

“I’m not supposed to be there, you know where I come from, I’m not supposed to be there," Contreras said. "The East part of Bakersfield by Martin Luther King Park and the projects and all that, and growing up with my friends, I look at us all now and a lot of them aren’t here, we all took different routes."

The fight will be broadcast on ESPN on June 23.