Brandon Figueroa Claims Interim WBC Title Vs. Mark Magsayo

Brandon Figueroa became the new interim WBC featherweight champion with a victory live on Showtime.

Figueroa claimed the title with a decision over Mark Magsayo in the main event from the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.

“Man, I just went out there and wanted it and took the fight right to him,” said Figueroa. “I wanted this fight so bad. He came back a little, but once I hit him with a body shot it affected him and I put pressure, pressure, pressure on him.”

In a fight that didn’t appear as one-sided as the judges’ scorecards, Figueroa (24-1-1, 18 KOs) won by scores of 117-109 twice and 118-108. SHOWTIME’s Hall of Fame unofficial scorer Steve Farhood saw the fight 114-112 in favor of Figueroa, with two Magsayo point deductions for holding the difference in the fight on his scorecard.

Figueroa, who averages 92 punches thrown per round throughout his career, was limited to 54 punches thrown per round against Magsayo (24-2, 16 KOs). Figueroa threw 60 more punches than Magsayo but landed three fewer punches and the fighters were separated by more than four landed punches in just three of the twelve rounds.

In a slugfest of a co-main event, power-punching Mexican Armando Reséndiz (14-1, 10 KOs) delivered a star-making performance, battering “Swift” Jarrett Hurd (24-3, 16 KOs) and spoiling the former unified 154-pound world champion’s comeback fight. The ringside physician stopped the contest five seconds into the tenth and final round due to a severe laceration on Hurd’s lip.

In the telecast opener, fast-rising teenager Elijah Garcia (14-0, 12 KOs) rose to the occasion in a massive step-up fight, dropping and stopping previously undefeated middleweight contender Amilcar Vidal, Jr. (16-1, 12 KOs) with a barrage of punches at 2:17 of the fourth round.