Ruben Torres is on the cusp of becoming a legit contender. In the meantime, the lightweight prospect is biding his time, staying busy for the right opportunity to come.

The unbeaten lightweight prospect will face Cristian Mino tonight at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California. The 10-round bout will stream live on Thompson Boxing’s Facebook and YouTube pages (11 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT).

At Thursday’s weigh-in, Torres weighed 134.6 pounds. Mino weighed in at 134.4.

Torres (17-0, 14 knockouts), who resides in the South Central area of Los Angeles, is one of boxing’s top young lightweights and is promoted by Thompson Boxing Promotions. He has built an unbeaten record facing modest opposition on Thompson Boxing shows in Ontario and nearby Corona.

In his last bout on December 17, Torres dropped Francisco Armenta three times before the fight was stopped in round 4. Armenta entered the bout unbeaten.

The 24-year-old notched an impressive knockout win over former fringe contender Richard Zamora on August 14. He has stopped seven of his last eight opponents, including gatekeepers Oscar Bravo and Ruben Tamayo.

Mino (20-4-2, 17 KOs), who resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina, also fought on December 17, defeating journeyman Sergio Blanco by unanimous decision. The victory snapped a six-bout winless streak, including losses to former world featherweight and junior featherweight titleholder Juan Manuel Lopez, world lightweight title challenger Alfredo Santiago, and unbeaten Nestor Bravo Velazquez.

In the co-feature, which is also an intriguing featherweight crossroads clash, Isaac Zarate will square off against Horacio Garcia in an eight-round bout.

Both fighters, who each weighed in at 126.9 pounds at Thursday’s, faced each other in September 2018, with Zarate winning by split-decision.

Zarate (16-5-4, 2 KOs), who resides in San Pedro, California, fought to a split-decision draw against Roberto Meza in his last bout in September 2019. His most notable fight of his career occurred over two months after the win over Garcia, when he was stopped by Murodjon Akhmadaliev.

Garcia (34-5-1, 25 KOs) has not fought since the split-decision loss to Zarate. The Guadalajara, Mexico resident has split his last six bouts.

In welterweight action, Louie Lopez (9-1-1, 4 KOs) of nearby Corona will face Las Vegas’ Cristian Dominguez (11-3, 6 KOs) in a six-round bout.

Featherweight Japhethlee Llamado (5-0, 2 KOs) of Norwalk, California will square off against Guadalajara’s Erick Garcia Benitez (2-2, 1 KO) in a six-round bout.

Beto Duran will call the action from ringside with Dougie Fischer of The Ring providing color commentary. Jessica Rosales will serve as onside ringside reporter.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing