Magsayo back on track
MARK Magsayo’s reign as World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight (126 pounds) champion lasted about as long as it takes to turn off the lights in the room and jump straight to bed.
In January 2022, Magsayo scored an upset, 12-round decision win over American Gary Russell Jr. to win the WBC featherweight crown. However, barely six months later, in July 2022, Magsayo yielded the crown to lanky Mexican challenger Rey Vargas on points.
Magsayo has since been inactive, but Lady Luck continues to smile on him.
As of this writing, Vargas is still listed as the WBC featherweight king, but the Mexican has booked a fight with American O’Shaquie Foster on February 11 for the vacant WBC junior lightweight (130 pounds) title. The WBC junior lightweight (also known as super featherweight) throne became vacant after American Shakur Stevenson relinquished it last year because of his inability to make the weight.
While Vargas is set to move up in weight, he has yet to decide if he will vacate the WBC featherweight title. Obviously, the Mexican is playing it safe as he wants to have a title to fall back on in case he loses to Foster. But with Vargas unable to defend the WBC featherweight title, the head honchos of the WBC have tapped Magsayo and American Brandon Figueroa to fight for the “interim” version of the title.
As the term suggests, an “interim” title is not a regular crown. An interim title is only meant to fill-in the gap, so to speak, as the WBC ponders on the fate of incumbent champ Vargas.
But here’s the catch: If Vargas beats Foster for the WBC junior lightweight crown, he is likely to give up the WBC featherweight diadem.
The winner of the “interim” fight between Magsayo and Figueroa may end up being promoted to full or regular champion. If Vargas decides to return to the featherweight division, he will be mandated to defend the WBC title against the Magsayo-Figueroa winner.
Magsayo-Figueroa is set to take place on March 5 (Manila time) at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. This early, boxing fans are looking at a no-holds barred slugfest given the aggressive styles of the fighters.
Magsayo, 27, totes a record of 24-1 with 16 knockouts. The native of Tagbilaran City, Bohol packs legit, one-punch knockout power, as evidenced by his chilling demolition of Mexican Julio Ceja and American Chris “Hitman” Avalos.
Figueroa, a 26-year-old native of Weslaco, Texas, parades a record of 23-1 with 18 knockouts. He is nicknamed “The Heartbreaker” because of his boyish looks, but beneath the exterior is a non-stop punching machine.
Figueroa, who is of Mexican descent, is known to throw bunches of punches. He is like the Energizer Bunny; he just keeps throwing leather.
While Figueroa may not have the bone-crunching power of Magsayo, the American’s voluminous punching has worn down several opponents.
Figueroa comes from a boxing family. Figueroa’s elder brother, Omar Figueroa Jr., held the WBC lightweight (135 pounds) title in 2014. Brandon’s entourage is made up of his family. He is trained by his father Omar Sr. while his sister Omayra takes care of his strength and conditioning.
In May 2021, Brandon stopped Mexican Luis Nery in seven rounds for the WBC and WBA (regular) junior featherweight (122 pounds) titles.
However, just six months later, in November 2021, Figueroa yielded the WBC belt in a razor-close decision loss to American Stephen Fulton. The loss was Figueroa’s first after 21 straight victories. The fight was a classic with not a few thinking Figueroa should have earned the decision. Figueroa applied suffocating pressure and displayed his volume punching. Post-fight statistics showed that Figueroa threw a whopping 1,086 punches and connected on 314.
Figueroa was negotiating for a rematch with Fulton for the WBC “interim” featherweight title but the fight fell through when Fulton opted to stay put at junior featherweight and defend his WBC-WBO titles against Japanese Naoya Inoue. With Fulton out of the picture, the WBC tapped Magsayo to step in and face Figueroa for the interim WBC featherweight crown.
Figueroa has fought only once since losing to Fulton. In July 2022, he made his featherweight debut with a sixthround knockout of Carlos Castro.
A few months later, Figueroa was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated in Hidalgo County, Texas.
Figueroa better be in shape as his showdown with Magsayo has all the trimmings of an unadulterated brawl. Fight fans cannot wait to see them eyeball-to-eyeball in the ring. Figueroa himself is all pumped up.
“I am confident that we’re going to give the fans a great fight because neither of us like to take a step back,” he was quoted as saying.