Report: Jesus Rojas To Defend WBA “Regular” Featherweight Title Against Can Xu

WBA “regular” featherweight titleholder Jesus Rojas could potentially defend his title in early 2019.

According to a report from Asian Boxing, Rojas will be fighting Chinese fighter Can Xu and with both fighters reportedly signing a fight contract, the bout could land on January 26, 2019 in Texas. The fight would be on a card promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and likely to land on the DAZN streaming service, which signed a broadcast deal with Golden Boy that brought in Canelo Alvarez as well.

Rojas won the interim WBA title in 2017, but would later be elevated to “regular” champion after the title became vacant once Abner Mares, the previous titleholder, fought “super” champion Leo Santa Cruz this past summer.

The 31-year-old Rojas was supposed to defend his title against Joseph Diaz on a boxing card streamed exclusively on Facebook, but Diaz missed weight the day before. The fight went on as planned and on August 11, Diaz defeated Rojas by unanimous decision, but due to WBA rules, Rojas kept his world title.

Xu is a 24-year-old featherweight from China who sports a 15-2 record with just two knockout victories. Xu has won his last 12 fights, picking up the WBA International super featherweight title before dropping down in weight to win the WBA International featherweight title in 2017.

The “regular” title is considered a secondary world title, but if the fight takes place and Xu wins the belt, he becomes the first Chinese pro boxer to become a world champion at more than 112 pounds. The only other Chinese world champions have been Xiong Zhao Zong and Zou Shiming, who have won world titles at minimumweight (105 pounds) and flyweight (112 pounds).