Damian Sosa hopes to continue down a path toward contender status at 154 pounds and an eventual world title shot.

Sosa will return to action tonight against Juan Ruiz at the Auditorio Municipal in his hometown of Tijuana, Mexico. The 10-round bout will precede the main event bout between unbeaten junior lightweights Daniel Garcia and Miguel Torres.

Both fights will stream live on ESPN Knockout (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT).

Sosa (21-1, 11 knockouts) last fought on August 26, defeating once-beaten Ronald Cruz by unanimous decision. On April 8, Sosa stopped Jesus Vega Villaman in the third round.

Back on December 4 of last year, Sosa, who is promoted by Toscano Promotions, defeated Clay Collard by unanimous decision. Collard had the famed run in 2020 of a winning streak in Top Rank’s ‘Bubble’ during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Sosa has won his last 10 fights since losing to Artem Oganesyan. 

Ruiz (27-7 1 NC, 19 KOs), who is originally from Venezuela and now resides in Tijuana, lost to once-beaten Sven Eibir by unanimous decision in his last bout on July 2. The 36-year-old did pull off an upset knockout win over Fredrick Lawson, but has recently lost to the likes of Carlos Adames and Alessandro Riguccini.

The 20-year-old Garcia (13-0, 10 KOs), who resides in nearby Ensenada, has won three of his last five bouts by knockout.

Torres (11-0, 6 KOs), a 24-year-old resident of Guadalajara, has only fought once this year after fighting three times in 2021.

In another fight on the ESPN Knockout stream, fringe junior featherweight contender Ricardo Espinoza (27-4, 23 KOs) will square off against Edgar Alor (14-3-1, 12 KOs) in a clash of hard-hitting Tijuana residents. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.