By Jake Donovan
Julio Ceja and Hugo Ruiz remain on course for their February 27 rematch, as both were within approved weight during their 7-day pre-fight safety check.
The World Boxing Council (WBC) – who recognizes Ceja as its super bantamweight champion – requires 30-day and 7-day weight checks for all fights carrying its sanctioning, whether for a title or an official eliminator. Boxers are required to weigh no more than 10% over the contracted weight limit 30 days and no more than 5% at the 7-day mark.
Ceja (30-1, 27KOs) weighed in at 127.9 lbs., just below the tolerated limit of 128.3 lbs. (58.201 kg) – 5% above the 122 lb. divisional limit for sanctioned fights; Ruiz was well within the mark at a healthy 127 lbs.
Their rematch will air live on Showtime, live from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The bout will serve as the chief support to Leo Santa Cruz in a featherweight title defense versus former 122 lb. titlist Kiko Martinez.
The placement is the same as their first fight, which was one of the best of 2015. Both fighters hit the deck in their vacant title fight last August, with Ceja recovering from a 3rd round knockdown to rally back and stop his countryman in the 5th round of their ESPN-televised slugfest. The condensed war primed the crowd – and viewers at home – for a terrific main event in which Santa Cruz outpointed Abner Mares to nab a vacant featherweight belt.
Santa Cruz had entered the evening as the reigning super bantamweight titlist, with Ceja initially inheriting an “interim” belt with designs of the two meeting in a mandated head-on collision. Instead, Santa Cruz opted to remain at featherweight, with Ceja being granted full title status and with both fighters now making the first defense of their respective belts.
Ceja has won six straight following the lone loss of his career, a hard-fought 12-round decision to Jamie McDonnell in their May ’13 vacant bantamweight title fight on the road in Doncaster, England. The showdown with Ruiz marked just his third career bout above the 118 lb. division, moving up in weight specifically to fight for the WBC 122 lb. belt.
Ruiz (35-3, 31KOs) looks to come up aces in his third career title fight. A four-fight win streak had preceded the loss to Ceja following a debated 12-round decision at the hands of then-bantamweight titlist Koki Kameda in Dec. ’12 in Japan. Ruiz had served as an interim titlist, his reign running parallel with Kameda for nearly two years before their eventual clash.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
