Ceja Edges Teran in War

By Derek Bonnett

Julio Ceja looked for his second win of 2017 at Palenque de Deportes in Chetumal, Mexico. After destroying former bantamweight champion Anselmo Moreno in three rounds back in May, Ceja, who briefly held a super bantamweight title, took on tough Venezuelan Breilor Teran for a minor belt. Teran was riding a five fight win-streak over nondescript opposition, but owned more than a dozen defeats on his dossier.

Teran boxed well over most of the first round, using single shots to find his mark beyond the Mexican’s gloves. Ceja stalked patiently and found a home for his right hook in the final seconds of the round to produced the only knockdown of the contest. Both fighter’s remained busy in the second and third rounds, but it was Ceja’s heavy blows which stuck out most. Ceja pressured Teran up against the ropes in the fourth and looked to open up and finished his opponent, but the iron-chinned Teran stood his ground. In the fifth, the bout began to shift as Teran increased his output and began to back Ceja up with his overhand right causing considerable damage to Ceja’s nose. The blood flowed freely for the next several frames, but the Mexican held to his plan of attacking the body and hunting for his right hook. After six, Ceja led 59-54 unofficially on the SecondsOut tally.

Ceja’s breathing looked impaired by the blood from his nose and mouth over the second half of the fight. Ceja used his feet to move more and his punches took on an air of desperation. Teran composed himself and landed well with his right hand. Teran moved around Ceja well in the ninth and kept his punch output higher than the stalking Mexican. Teran rocked Ceja back on his heels with a well-timed one-two in round ten. The action was close, but Teran looked more and more like the fresher fighter with some fuel still left in the tank. Teran battered Ceja in round eleven and closed his right with a big left hook. Teran worked the body, keeping his hands busy while Ceja’s head filled with doubts. However, the Mexican came back to fought well in the twelfth. Ceja’s body attack remained steady and he was surprisingly adept at blocking Teran’s punches now that some of the blood flow had been stemmed from his nose.

After twelve rounds of boxing, SecondsOut saw the contest close and in favor of Ceja by a 115-112 margin. The three judges agreed, seeing the action 118-109 (ridiculous), 115-112, and 114-113. If you scored only the aggression, you likely had Ceja way ahead. If you scored the blood, you may have given too much credit to Teran. If you examined both carefully, you saw a pretty damn competitive fight. Ceja lifted his ledger to 32-2-0 (28). Teran fell to deceptive 20-15-1 (13).