On Saturday, September 19, Interim WBC junior-welterweight champion Isaac \u201cPitbull\u201d Cruz will return to defend his title against challenger Nestor Bravo, live on DAZN (8 pm ET\/5 pm PT) from Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California.<\/p>\n
Cruz, 28-3-2 (18 KOs), and Bravo, 24-1 (17 KOs), will meet in the 12-round Premier Boxing Champions main event that also features Interim WBC middleweight champion Jes\u00fas \u201cMono\u201d Ramos Jr., 24-1 (19 KOs), taking on mandatory challenger Meiirim Nursultanov, 20-0 (11 KOs), in the 12-round co-main.<\/p>\n
Cruz, who won the interim WBC belt with a 10-round unanimous decision over late-sub opponent Omar Salcido in July, will be having his first fight under the guidance of new trainer Eddy Reynoso against the currently unranked Bravo.<\/p>\n
The popular 28-year-old Cruz, from Mexico City, also held the WBA junior-welterweight title by defeating current WBA welterweight champ Rolando “Rolly” Romero via eighth-round TKO in March 2024, but lost it in his first defense by dropping a 12-round split decision to Jose \u201cEl Rayo\u201d Valenzuela in August of the same year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was last seen fighting to a 12-round majority draw with Lamont Roach Jr. last December to retain his WBC belt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am extremely motivated to return to the ring on September 19,\u201d said Cruz. \u201cI know that Bravo is very hungry and hoping to pull off the upset, but I also have a very clear goal, to keep proving that I belong among the elite.\u201d<\/p>\n
32-year-old Bravo, from Arecibo, Puerto Rico, rebounded from his first career loss, a 10-round split decision to South Africa\u2019s Xolisani Ndongeni in March 2025, to score a one-punch second-round knockout over Pedro Campa in January. Prior to that, Bravo was unbeaten in 23 fights since turning pro in 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeptember 19 is gonna be a classic Puerto Rico vs. Mexico showdown,\u201d said Bravo. \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to my team, and everyone who made this incredible event possible. I\u2019m facing a tough, aggressive fighter who comes forward and likes to engage. But I have all the skills and versatility to win by any means necessary. We\u2019re preparing the right way, and on fight night Puerto Rico will have a new champion.\u201d<\/p>\n
25-year-old Jes\u00fas \u201cMono\u201d Ramos Jnr, from Casa Grande, Arizona, won his Interim WBC belt via a 12-round unanimous decision over Shane Mosley Jnr last December. Before that he scored a number of impressive victories over fellow contenders including Brian Mendoza, Javier Molina, Vladimir Hernandez and then-unbeaten Joey Spencer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super excited to be back in the ring and extra motivated to defend my title for the first time,\u201d said Ramos. \u201cI know my opponent has a lot of experience and has been waiting for his opportunity. He\u2019s a hungry and dangerous fighter, so we\u2019re expecting the best version of him on September 19.\u201d<\/p>\n
32-year-old WBC No. 1-ranked Nursultanov, from Ayagoz, Kazakhstan, and now training in Southern California, hasn\u2019t fought since winning a wide 12-round unanimous decision over then once-beaten Julio Alamos in November 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis upcoming bout is a moment I\u2019ve been eagerly waiting for,\u201d said Nursultanov. \u201cGetting here took patience and relentless effort. Enough talk; I\u2019m fully dialed in and ready to give my all. I\u2019m bringing pure focus, intense drive and a hunger for victory.\u201d<\/p>\n
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has publicly stated the winner of Ramos Jnr- Nursultanov will be ordered to face full WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday, September 19, Interim WBC junior-welterweight champion Isaac \u201cPitbull\u201d Cruz will return to defend his title against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,711,710,49,48,2672,295209,279547,295208,82],"class_list":["post-848066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxingscene","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-isaac-cruz","tag-jesus-ramos-jr","tag-meiirim-nursultanov","tag-nestor-bravo","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}