By Keith Idec

Jesus Ruiz made Randy Caballero earn every bit of his win Thursday night before his hometown fans.

Caballero looked rusty in his first fight in more than 13 months, but was able to do enough to unanimously out-point Ruiz in their 10-round, 122-pound fight in Indio, California. The 26-year-old Caballero, a former IBF bantamweight champion from nearby Coachella, California, won on the scorecards of all three judges – Carla Caiz (96-94), Max DeLuca (96-94) and Zac Young (97-93).

Caballero (24-0, 14 KOs) also won the vacant NABF super bantamweight championship.

The 27-year-old Ruiz (36-8-5, 25 KOs) took the fight on 2½ weeks notice, but the determined Mexican boxer brought the fight to Caballero for most of the 10 rounds. The unbeaten Caballero started slow and looked sluggish, but began digging to Ruiz’s body just before the midway mark of the fight to at least slow down Ruiz slightly.

Caballero was effective when they fought at a distance, but Ruiz often forced Caballero to fight inside.

Neither fighter appeared hurt during their competitive scrap, though there were accidental clashes of their heads throughout the bout. One of those accidental butts caused a cut around Caballero’s right eye in the ninth round.

The Caballero-Ruiz fight was part of the inaugural “Golden Boy On ESPN” boxing telecast on ESPN2, the new venture for Oscar De La Hoya’s promotional company.

His win Thursday night marked just the second fight for Caballero since he won the IBF world bantamweight championship in October 2014. Caballero beat England’s Stuart Hall (20-5-2, 7 KOs) by unanimous decision to win that title, but lost it at a weigh-in the day before his first title defense.

Caballero was supposed to defend his title against England’s Lee Haskins on the Canelo Alvarez-Miguel Cotto undercard in November 2015 in Las Vegas. Caballero was a whopping 5½ pounds over the 118-pound limit for that fight, though. Haskins (34-3, 14 KOs) refused to box Caballero at the higher weight and the bout was canceled.

Caballero came back 2½ months later to stop Mexico’s Ruben Garcia Hernandez (19-2-1, 7 KOs) following the seventh round at Fantasy Springs Casino Resort. Before Thursday night, Caballero hadn’t boxed since he beat Hernandez in February 2016.

In the televised opener of the ESPN broadcast, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Marlen Esparza dominated overmatched Rachel Sazoff throughout their four-round flyweight bout to win her pro debut easily.

The 27-year-old Esparza, of Pasadena, Texas, won by wide margins (40-36, 40-36, 40-36) on all three scorecards against Sazoff (0-3), of Hamilton Township, New Jersey.

Olympic bronze medal winner Marlen Esparza (1-0) made her pro debut and won an easy four round unanimous decision over Rachel Sazoff (0-3). All three judges had it 40-36.

Super lightweight prospect Hector Tanajara Jr. (8-0, 4 KOs) was dropped hard and nearly knocked out in the second round, but survived to win a six round unanimous decision over Daniel Perales (10-9-1, 5 KOs). All three judges saw it 58-55.

Welterweight contender Mauricio Herrera (23-7, 7 KOs) won an eight round unanimous decision over Hector Velasquez (57-29-3, 39 KOs). Herrera never had Velasquez in trouble and simply outworked him. All three judges scored had it 80-72.

Middleweight Tureano Johnson (20-1, 14 KOs) was back in the ring to score a second round stoppage of Fabiano Pena, (16-7-1, 13 KOs). Pena was down twice in the second. Moments later in the round Pena's corner felt that he had enough and threw in the towel to stop the contest.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.