Brandon Figueroa Impresses in Texas

Brandon Figueroa Impresses in Texas

By Gary Kittilsen

Undefeated Interim WBA super bantamweight champ Brandon “THe Heartbreaker” Figueroa put together a sensational performance for his hometown crowd in Edinburg, Texas.

In the main event of Saturday’s PBC card, The 22-year-old Figueroa returned home, just a few short miles from his small-town, hometown, Weslaco Texas to make the first defense of his Interim WBA strap. And the hometown hero delivered! Scoring a vicious fourth-round knockout to make his first title defense and send his fans home happy.

Brandon Figueroa, younger brother of former world lightweight champ Omar Figueroa, got to work right away unloading a vicious body assault on the 38-year-old, Javier Chacon.

From the opening moments of the opening round Figueroa’s game plan was obvious he was going to breakdown the body of his older opponent. The relentless body assault continued into the second round as Figueroa picked up his work rate and battered Chacon against the ropes several times.

Sticking to the body attack in the fourth round Chacon was really beginning to break down, and as the old adage goes kill the body and the head will die. The Heartbreaker out of the southpaw stance landed a picture-perfect right hook to the temple of his Argentinian opponent, wobbling him badly and just moments later a thundering right uppercut landed perfectly on the chin of Chacon that put him down and out. Giving the younger Figueroa brother a fourth-round knockout victory.

The talented Texan didn’t just show off his typical mauling pressure style. He showed that he had many more sophisticated gears. His head movement was superb and limited Chacon to landing just 18 total punches throughout the entire fight. Figueroa also established a jab that Chacon could not get passed. Additionally, the young star showed a unique ability to seamlessly switch back and forth between the conventional and southpaw stances, keeping his opponent guessing and off-balance thorough out the fight.

The future is bright for “The Heartbreaker” given his, skills, style and personality, he is going to be a draw in his hometown and throughout the country. Figueroa is currently ranked number one by the WBA and will likely be mandated to fight Daniel Roman, the current WBA world champion in the very near future.

The 22-year-old interim champ says he can stay a few more fights at 122, to pick up a few more belts before moving up to 126. That’s the division where the big money mega fights with Abner Mares, Leo Santa Cruz, and Gary Russell Jr can easily be made.

The two co-main events bouts produced a ton of fireworks. Fellow 122-pounder Stephon Fulton put on a display of speed and skill which he finished off with a brutal body shot that put his opponent, Isaac Avelar down for the 10 count.

In the opening bout of the televised portion of the PBC card lighting struck quickly for “El Relampago” Omar Juarez, who scored a brutal first-round knockout over opponent Gino De La Paz. Dropping him with a massive right hand at the 1:40 mark of the opening round. The 20-year old sensation from Brownsville, Texas improved his record to 5-0 (3).

Photo from Stephanie Trapp/TGB Promotions