By Rick Reeno
Staples Center, Los Angeles, California - Julio Ceja (30-1, 27 KOs) showed a lot of heart and determination in his fifth round knockout of Hugo Ruiz, (35-2, 30 KOs) in the televised co-feature of Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN.
Ceja was dropped pretty hard in the third round and honestly admits Ruiz had him in serious trouble. But he recuperated and came back to knock Ruiz down even harder in the fifth and punished his Mexican countryman until the referee stepped in. Ceja captured the WBC's interim super bantamweight title with the victory.
Ceja's sole defeat came at the hands of Jamie McDonnell (26-2-1, 12KOs) in May of 2013, when the two boxers fought for the vacant IBF crown. McDonnell walked away with a close twelve round majority decision.
McDonnell is now fighting in the United States under the Premier Boxing Champions banner. He faces Tomoki Kameda in a rematch on September 6th at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The British boxer is already discussing the idea of moving up to 122.
If McDonnell decides to move up, Ceja would love to have a rematch with him.
"Jamie McDonnell is fighting right now at 118. But if he moves up to 122, I would love to do that fight. I would be interested in that," Ceja said.