Defensively lacking, Brandon Figueroa still breaks Mark Magsayo’s heart
There is nothing wrong with Brandon Figueroa, who won a hard-fought 12-round unanimous decision over former WBC Featherweight Champion Mark Magsayo on Saturday at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. Official results were 117-109, 117-109 and 118-108.
Figueroa is an uncompromising pressure fighter who loves to entertain. The 26-year-old Texan is never in a dull fight and his fan-friendly style has already earned him a consistent super bantamweight championship. And while he ceded the WBC title to the superb Stephen Fulton (MD 12) at 122 pounds in November 2021, Figueroa is now poised to take on WBC Featherweight Champion Rey Vargas.
“Whoever wants to fight me, I will fight,” Figueroa (24-1-1, 18 KOs) said during his post-fight interview with Showtime. “I want to fight for a world title. I just want to give the fans the fights they want.”
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Yes, The Heartbreaker has significant merits, but there is one flaw that needs to be ironed out quickly. Figueroa gets hit too often. At 5-9 he’s extremely tall for the featherweight division, but the ex-champ never fights like the bigger man. He just doesn’t care what comes back, and that prospect will likely shorten his career.
According to Compubox, Magsayo landed 179 of 593 power shots (30.2 percent). Figueroa actually scored three fewer power blows but threw 653 of them for a 27 percent connection percentage. The judges favored the busier fighter, which was the right decision in this case. My scorecard was 116-111.
But while I’d prefer Figueroa to surpass Vargas and clinch a second division title, I’d still like to see him bolster his defense. Vargas, 32, is a stylist who is unlikely to do any harm to the younger man. However, can you imagine a power-puncher like WBA champion Mauricio Lara shooting at will on Figueroa? Even fast-rising Cuban and two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez is packing a serious punch.
For proof of just how much an attrition-based fighting style can work against you, look no further than last night’s Figueroa-Magsayo undercard. Former unified super welterweight champion Jarrett Hurd was shockingly upset with capable Mexican Jose Armando Resendiz, who prevailed in the 10th round.
Hurd was once considered a pound-for-pound player by many. A suffocating pressure fighter, he would use his superior size and conditioning to wear down the opposition like a virus. Hurd had excellent wins against the likes of Tony Harrison (TKO 9), Austin Trout (TKO 10), and Erislandy Lara (SD 12), but he took so much punishment in return. When he finally ran out of luck against Julian Williams in 2019, Hurd, then just 28, appeared to be on a steep descent. Now fighting at middleweight and having lost two out of three fights since the Williams loss, this latest setback looks like the end.
Super brave Figueroa would do well to learn from Hurd’s distress. Despite coming from a limited amateur background, the former champion has a solid IQ, nice variety, and is a skilled switch hitter. Figueroa will always be aggressive but throwing in some defensive work will pay off hugely in the long run. Transitioning from aggressor to cerebral aggressor is the smart game here.
Figueroa is great for boxing and we want to keep him with us for a long time.