By Mark Eisner: Brandon ‘The Heartbreaker’ Figueroa (24-1-1, 18 KOs) defeated former WBC 126-lb champion Mark Magsayo (24-2, 16 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night to capture the interim WBC featherweight title at the Toyota Center in Ontario, Californi.
Magsayo,27, was twice penalized for holding in rounds eight and eleven. The referee appeared to miss at least three knockdowns with a tired and hurt Magsayo repeatedly hitting the deck from exhaustion and the effects of the vicious body punching from Figueroa.
The scores were 117-109, 117-109, and 118-108. Figueroa landed 176 off 653 punches. Magsayo connected on 179 of 593.
Undercard results:
- Former IBF/WBA junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd (24-3, 16 KOs) was surprisingly stopped in the tenth round by little known 24-year-old Jose Armando Resendiz (14-1, 10 KOs) in the co-feature bout. The referee stopped the fight due to a cut lip that the 32-year-old Hurd had suffered, but he was taking a bad beating from the seventh round on, and he looked done. The referee halted the fight after Hurd had been examined by the ringside doctor at the started of the tenth round. Hurd had suffered a bad cut on his lip, and he was getting beaten up by the younger fighter Resendiz, who had a better engine. We may have witnessed the end of Hurd’s career tonight. It’s hard to imagine Hurd continuing after this fight, as he’s now lost three out of his last four fights, and getting beaten by the likes of Resendiz and Luis Arias is a signal that it’s over. Hurd landed 228 of 562 punches for a connect percentage of 41. For his part, Resendiz connected on 280 of 780 for a 36% connect rate. Hurd hasn’t looked the same since his war with Erislandy Lara in 2018, a fight that he won, but he took a ton of punishment. Before tonight’s fight, Hurd had been out of the ring for almost two years after his loss to Luis Arias in June 2021. In coming back, Hurd had spoken bout wanting to fight the Charlo brothers. Obviously, that’s now a pipe dream and will never happen unless one of the Charlos feels like throwing Hurd a bone, for old-time’s sake. When Hurd fought at junior middleweight, his huge size helped him succeed against fighters he otherwise would have lost to. He had wins over Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout, and Tony Harrison. Now that Hurd is fighting at middleweight, his size isn’t enough for him to dominate at this weight like he’d been doing at 154. Even if Hurd was still at 154, his war against Lara in 2018 seems to have taken the best part of him.
- Middleweight Elijah Garcia (14-0, 12 KOs) knocked out Amilcar Vidal (16-1, 12 KOs) in the fourth round of the first fight of Showtime’s three-fight main portion of their card. In the fourth round, the 19-year-old Garcia knocked Vidal down. Referee Jack Reiss quickly halted the fight at 2:17.
- In the featured attraction, junior middleweight Terrell Gausha (23-3-1, 12 KOs) defeated Brandyn Lynch (12-2-1, 9 KOs) by a ninth round knockout. The 2012 U.S. Olympian Gausha dropped Lynch three times in the ninth round. Referee Jerry Cantu stepped in and halted after the third knockdown in the ninth. The time of the stoppage was at 50 seconds of the ninth. Lynch was nailed by a beautiful right hand from the far more technical Gausha for the first knockdown of the round. When Lynch got back to his feet, it was clear that he was badly hurt, as he was staggering. Surprisingly, the referee allowed it to continue, even though Lynch was on shaky legs and had just barely turned around when the action resumed. Gausha took advantage of the situation by nailing the defenseless Lynch with repeated head shots until he hit the deck after getting nailed by a right hand to the side of the head. This time, Lynch looked even more hurt, yet the referee Cantu let it continue. Gausha then walked over and nailed Lynch with two clubbing right hands to the head to send him down for the third and final time in the referee. There was no way that Cantu could have allowed the fight to continue at this point because Lynch was too badly hurt to be allowed to continue. The victory for Gaushua was his first in two years since stopping Jamontay Clark in March 2021. Last year, Gausha lost a 12 round unanimous decision to Tim Tszyu in a close fight. He dropped Tszyu in the first round, and was outboxing him through most of the first half of the contest. Tonight, Gausha was countering Lynch frequently, taking advantage of the many openings he was leaving when he would throw shots. In the ninth, Lynch got a little too carless while throwing a right hand and got nailed by a hard counter right by Gausha to put him on the deck.
- Middleweight prospect Daniel Blancas (5-0, 3 KOs) destroyed journeyman Kynndale Prather (3-16, 1 KOs) by a first round stoppage. The 21-year-old Blancas dropped Prather twice in the round before it was halted by referee Jerry Reiss. Blancas cornered Prather and unloaded with a storm of shots, finishing him with a left hook to the body that put him down. The time of the stoppage was at 1:53.
- Unbeaten junior middleweight prospect Travon Marshall (8-0, 7 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a third round knockout win over Justin DeLoach (19-6, 10 KOs) in a scheduled eight round fight. Marshall, 22, dropped DeLoach in the third round. The referee then halted the contest. The fight was stopped at 2:07 of the third.
- Light welterweight veteran Samuel Teah (19-4-1, 8 KOs) outboxed previously unbeaten Enriko Gogokhia (13-1-2, 8 KOs), winning a 8 round unanimous decision. The 35-year-old Teah dropped Gogokhia with a right hand to the head in the first round. It was a flash knockdown in which Teah connected with a shot while the southpaw Gologkhia was backed up against the ropes. From the second round on, Teah countered the long repetitive right-left combinations that Gogokhia threw without variation. Teach was mostly throwing arm punches, as he lacked power and his reach was short. The scores were 78-73, 78-73, and 79-72. Teah had recently been knocked out by Brandun Lee.
Preview: The Texas native Figueroa (23-1-1, 18 KOs) is moving up from super bantamweight, where he previously held the WBA & WBC titles until being dethroned by Stephen Fulton in November 2021. We’ll find out tonight if the 26-year-old Figueroa’s power can carry over to the 126-lb division.
If not, he could be in for a long night against the big-punching Magsayo because he’s a pure slugger and will be dangerous, particularly in the early rounds when he’s firing on all eight cylinders.
Rather than stay at 122, Figueroa is choosing to move up to battle for the interim WBC featherweight title against the recently beaten champion Magsayo (24-1, 16 KOs) tonight.
If Figueroa fails against the tough former WBC featherweight champion Magsayo, he will have to decide whether to stick it out at 126 or return to the 122-lb division and swim with the sharks, Naoya Inoue & Stephen Fulton.
In what should be a thrilling fight, former IBF/WBA junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd (24-2, 16 KOs) will attempt to reinvent himself and rejuvenate his sagging career tonight in a 10-round co-feature bout against the younger 24-year-old Armando Resendiz (13-1, 9 KOs).
This is a make-or-break fight for the 32-year-old Hurd, as he’s lost two out of his last three fights since 2019, and if he gets beaten by this level of opponent in Resendiz, that would be a signal that he’s not going to capture a world title at 160.
Hurd admits there’s no going back to 154, as he’s outgrown the weight class, so this is a one-way trip, and there’s no going back.
“Yeah, of course, whether the fight is a title fight or not, it’s all about health. He did his part, and I did my part,” said Brandon Figueroa to Fighthype when asked if he was glad that Mark Magsayo made weight successfully for the clash after coming in heavy on the first attempt on the scales at Friday’s weigh-in.
“I agree that this is tough stretching to 126. Ask any fighter, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Making weight is the hard part. The fight is easy because that’s what you do in life to prepare for that. I agree. Fighting is the easy part,” said Figueroa.
Brandon ‘The Heartbreaker’ Figueroa and Mark Magsayo meet tonight in a 12 round headliner clash for the WBC interim featherweight title live on Showtime in this PBC event at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. The main portion of tonight’s Figueroa vs. Magsayo begins at 9:00 p.m. ET, with the preliminary action starting at 6:30 ET.