Jamie McDonnell Vs Julio Ceja - Fight Preview

By Jack Sumner @Jack_Sumner_

Jamie McDonnell attempts to win the IBF bantamweight title in his hometown of Doncaster on Saturday, when he challenges for the vacant world crown at the Keepmoat Stadium, home of the town’s beloved Doncaster Rovers. The 27-year-old is hoping to become Doncaster’s first world champion in front of a partisan South Yorkshire crowd, but in the other corner will stand an opponent who comes with a fearsome reputation in Mexico’s Julio Ceja.

The visiting fighter has promised to knock McDonnell out in front of his home fans and one look at his record suggests that Ceja (24-0, 22 KO’s) has complete belief in fulfilling that promise. With a knockout percentage of 91.66% the unbeaten 20-year-old is the one of the most ferocious punchers in the division and has hall-of-fame Mexican trainer Nacho Beristain in his corner.

Santa Cruz steps up to 122lb, McDonnell & Ceja to fight for vacant belt.

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Leo Santa Cruz.

Young boxing superstar Leo Santa Cruz (23-0, 13 KO's) has made the decision to vacate his IBF bantamweight title and step up to the highly-competitive super-bantamweight division. This move has been coming for a relatively long time and Cruz and his team finally made it official on Monday, a day before the negotiations were set to start for his mandatory title defense against Jamie McDonnell.

The 24-year old was one of the breakthrough stars of 2012, fighting on five occasions and looking impressive every time. He is now in search for the "big" fights at 122lb. The California-resident has long been linked with a mouth-watering bout with Abner Mares, another young fighter who made it into the big time in 2012. However, Mares looks set to step up to featherweight in search for a fight with WBC champ Daniel Ponce De Leon so that fight looks unlikely at this current time. But there's still plenty of exciting match-ups for Cruz at super-bantamweight, and his promoters at Golden Boy agree.

"For the first fight at the higher weight class we want to pick a quality opponent and we see that in the next two or so fights Leo will be fighting for a world title again," said Golden Boy Chief Executive Richard Schaefer. "We will have to see what is available for him for a big fight, but we believe as a company, that in no particular order, Leo Santa Cruz, (Nonito) Donaire, Abner Mares, (Guillermo) Rigondeaux and Gary Russell Jr. are the best guys in these weight classes (super-bantamweight and featherweight), and we are not afraid to put Leo in with anyone."