By Francisco Salazar
Unbeaten heavyweight Andy Ruiz will fight Devin Vargas on September 26, Top Rank matchmaker Brad Goodman told Boxingscene.com.
The eight round bout will take place at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif., which is south of Fresno. The bout will headline a Top Rank card and air on UniMas, beginning at 11 p.m. ET/ PT.
Unbeaten Jose Ramirez was scheduled to fight on the card, but suffered an injury during training camp a few weeks ago. It was supposed to be a homecoming of sorts for Ramirez, who was born and raised in Avenal, about 30 miles away.
Ruiz (24-0, 17 KOs) has not fought since December 20, when he won a one-sided 10 round decision over Siarhei Liakhovich in Phoenix.
Ruiz has been training in Big Bear, Calif. during the last couple of months. He has reportedly lost a considerable amount of weight (some have reported 30 pounds).
Vargas (18-4, 7 KOs) has lost four of his last five bouts, all by knockout. He has not fought since June 21, when he was stopped by Dominic Breazeale in the third round.
Opening the ‘Solo Boxeo Tecate’ telecast will be an eight round bout between junior middleweights Danny Valdivia (8-0, 6 KOs) and Jeremy Ramos (9-1, 4 KOs).
Unbeaten middleweight Esquiva Falcao (10-0, 7 KOs) will fight Zoltan Papp (7-1-1, 3 KOs) in an eight round bout.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
