The 25 year-old, who enjoyed a brief spell as WBC ruler in 2015/16 before being dethroned by Hugo Ruiz, lost for the first time since then following two wins in a row.
Unfancied Venezuelan Franklin Manzanilla did the damage as the fringe contender managed to see off Ceja in five rounds to win the WBC Silver title.
Sixteen KO’s in seventeen bouts prior to Ceja suggested there could be a danger, although nobody expected Manzanilla to pull off the job in such fashion – and on Mexican soil to boot.
Ceja could maybe try to land a rematch, whilst Manzanilla may now hold hopes of beating his rival to a world title shot later in the year after improving to 18-4, 17 KO’s.
David Lemieux dominated Karim Achour in what will be the 29 year-old’s final bout at the middleweight limit in his native Canada.
The ex-IBF title holder shook off the reverberations of a terrible weigh-in, where Lemieux looked gaunt and hagged as he missed weight by two pounds.
Lemieux will now campaign at super-middleweight following an easy decision win 120-107, 119-107 and 119-108 on the scorecards.
On the undercard, Custio Clayton pushed his record to 15-0 with a unanimous twelve-round triumph over Stephen Danyo.
Elsewhere in California, Jerwin Ancajas claimed the spoils in the first all-Filipino world title fight for almost a century when the IBF super-flyweight champion out-pointed countryman Jonas Sultan.
The pair enjoyed a friendly build-up, as expected for the California contest, but it was soon forgotten once the bell rang.
Ancajas was obviously the more skilled fighter and was able to control most of the rounds to take a 119-109 (twice) and 117-111 victory on the scorecards.
In chief support, British star Kal Yafai defended his WBA belt in style retiring David Carmona through seven rounds in the same weight class.
Argenis Mendez dropped Eddie Ramirez four times in Biloxi to power his way to a convincing ten-round win and can look forward to another potential world title shot.
