By Jim Maltzman: WBC super bantamweight champion Luis ‘Pantera’ Nery (31-0, 24 KOs) successfully weighed in at 122 lbs on Friday for his unification clash against WBA ‘regular’ champion Brandon Figueroa (21-0-1, 16 KOs) for their headliner on Showtime this Saturday, May 15th.
The fight will be taking place at the Dignity Health Sports Park, in Carson, California.
(Photo credit Esther Lin/SHOWTIME)
Figueroa, 24, weighed in at 121.4 lbs and looked in great shape for what could be the toughest fight of his career. ‘The Heartbreaker’ Figueroa is facing a big puncher with a lot of talent in 26-year-old southpaw Nery.
Figueroa has the size advantage
The one thing that the 5’9″ Figueroa has going for him in this fight is his three-inch height and six-inch reach advantage over the 5’6″ Nery.
In a normal situation, having that kind of a size advantage over an opponent would be a massive positive, but not in this case.
Former WBC bantamweight champion Nery has proven numerous times during his nine-year pro career that he can deal with taller fighters with his explosive in and out attacks.
Figueroa took a lot of punishment in arguably the toughest fight of his career against former WBC super bantamweight champion Julio Ceja in November 2019.
Ceja came in a whopping four lbs over the 122-lb limit at 126, and he preceded to land a lot of heavy blows to the face of Figueroa that bloodied him.
By the end of the fight, Ceja looked like the winner, but the judges scored it a 12 round draw.
It was a lucky break by Figueroa, but it still showed that he’s going to have problems sooner or later. We could see the flaws in Figueroa’s game exposed on Saturday by the powerful unbeaten Nery.
“In the ring, I’m going for the finish. Everything is on the line. I just have to prove what I’m capable of inside the ring,” said Nery.
“I don’t care about anything else but that. Brandon’s style really fits with what I want to do in the ring,” said Nery.
Nery struggled in the last fight
In Nery’s last fight, he didn’t look overly impressive in defeating Aaron Alameda by a 12 round unanimous decision last September.
That fight was for the vacant WBC super bantamweight title, and it wasn’t one of Nery’s easiest fights by a long stretch. The previously unbeaten Alameda gave Nery a really tough time, showing that his power hasn’t carried to the 122-lb division. Nery believes that fans are making too much of his poor performance.
Other weights on Saturday’s card:
- Former IBF/WBA super bantamweight champion Danny Roman (28-3-1, 10 KOs) weighed in at the limit at 122 lbs for his 10-round fight against Ricardo Espinoza (25-3, 21 KOs). For his part, the 23-year-old Espinoza weighed in at 121.6 lbs. This could prove difficult for Roman, as Espinoza gave John Riel Casimero a close fight before losing by a 12 round knockout in 2019.
- Super featherweight Xavier Martinez (16-0, 11 KOs) weighed in at 131.6 lbs for his 132-lb catch-weight fight against Juan Carlos Burgos (34-4-2, 21 KOs). Burgos weighed in at 131.8 lbs. Roman will be looking to pick up his second consecutive victory since losing his titles to Murodjon Akhmadaliev by a 12 round split decision last year in January.