By Rocky Morales at ringside
WBA super bantamweight champion Brandon “The Heartbreaker” Figueroa (22-0-1, 17KO) was relentless in defeating previously undefeated two-division WBC champion Luis Nery (31-1, 24KO) in a WBA and WBC super bantamweight unification bout on Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Figueroa showed little respect to Nery and Nery eventually yielded the middle of the ring. At that point, Figueroa became the hunter and Nery became the hunted.
Nery had no answer to keep the taller, younger and harder punching Figueroa off of him and his only hope seemed to be if he could land a counter punch while Figueroa was coming in. Despite being in control of the fight, Figueroa never took his foot off the gas and just kept coming.
The end came at 2:17 in round seven while Figueroa was launching a combination at the retreating Nery. A few punches into the combination, Figueroa landed a hard body shot with Nery having a slightly delayed reaction but then going down in tremendous pain. Nery made a seeming effort to get up to continue but the referee reached the count of 10 making Figueroa the winner and new unified WBC and WBA bantamweight world champion.
Brandon Figueroa, with the victory, also earns the chance to next face WBO super world titlist, Stephen Fulton, who was in attendance ringside, for what will be 3/4 of the unified super bantamweight title.
At the time of the KO, judges had it 57-57, 59-55 Nery, 58-56 Figueroa.
top to bottom a brilliant card. * unless your idea of boxing includes youtube stars. Thank you Showtime matchmaking.
it was PBC matchmaking. You should thank Al Haymon
Yeah thank Al for me a 1/8 ratio of good cards
Daaaaamn!
I had this one all wrong. Thought Nerys power and expire would overwhelm the Heartbreak Kid!
Great performance by Figueroa, he needs to work on his defense but great fight from both fighters.
Congrats to Brandon.
I had the same thought. Great fight!
Figueroa understands a war of attrition with a very limited defensive style and telegraphed, slow punches. I picked Figueroa to win, but I was not expecting a mid-round KO. Figueroa’s pressure, conditioning and sturdy chin caused a naturally smaller Nery to expend too much energy; and it usually takes Figueroa a few rounds to get his sweat going.
In Figueroa vs. Fulton, Figueroa BETTER work on keeping up his hands and double jabbing during the inside approach because Fulton has fast hands for counterpunching with a little sting. Fulton’s conditioning will get tested by Figueroa. Therefore, Fulton better get in great shape to deal with Figueroa’s natural size, chin, will/determination; constant pressure, conditioning, volume punching and body punching.
I am looking forward to Figueroa vs. Fulton…Wow!!
Agree. Fulton is far more skilled just like Nery was the more skilled guy tonight. But Figueroa just keeps coming and coming. If a guy isn’t strong for the weight, like Nery, they will eventually get run over because he’s not gonna KO figueroa. Fulton has a shot at knocking Figueroa out, but like you said, he’s gonna have to be in the best physical condition.
“Fulton has a shot at knocking Figueroa out?” Oh yes Cool Boy Steph 19-0 8KO’s is like the Mike Tyson at 122…
Cracking fight. Nery appeared dead at the weight and almost dead at the weigh in. A death camp diet one would assume.
Fulton in 2!
Haha! The drug and weight cheater Nery got exposed because He wasn’t weight bullying shot fighters. All these casuals on here saying that Nery would have beaten pound for pound number one monster Inoue, and hype job Nery gets knocked out by a lesser fighter:) The other Mexican fraud will get knocked out by Bivol, if he steps up and fights him.
Chris: you must be talking about some other guy as the “other Mexican Fraud”? If you mean Canelo then you are actually one of the “casuals” u speak of cuz Canelo already said MULITPLE TIMES hes staying at 168, thats where he feels the best right now. C’mon buddy. Get urself up to date and stop being a casual already. Maybe Bivol will step it up and fight Beterbiev.
Hey son, Bivol already called out Canelo at 168 publicly and the Mexican fraud has gone silent. Only casual morons like you think Canelo is the best fighter in the world. He is the most popular fighter in the world and the biggest money maker, but he’s not the number one pound for pound fighter in the world. Only aficionados see these things so I can see why you don’t.
Why Bivol dont fight Tyson Fury …stupid
Ricardo. Agreed bud! They keep pushing Canelo but Bivol or Beterbiev cld jus as well face each other or make the jump as well. Its jus Canelo haters bro.
Why Bivol dont fight Tyson Fury ….stupid
It must be a nightmare to face someone like Figueroa that never stops coming forward never mind what you throw back.
Nery tried everything. You almost see in his eyes when he realizes that Figueroa will never stop and this will not end well. His eyes and mind gave up prior the actual stoppage.
Can Fulton match Figueroas intensity, mental strength and stamina? I do not know. Fulton seems to be a thinking boxer, has a good counter-punch and seems to have the best sparring.
But this is different. He has to prove his heart against Figueroas in a way he has never done before. Can Fulton handle the never ending pressure? And Figueroas must be carefull with his lacking defense.
Fulton knows now what he will face. Looking forward to this fight already.
Fulton will send Brandon back to Santa Monica Blvd. Fulton will beat Brandon’s ass.
Figueroa was too big for Nery. I doubt Figueroa will beat Stephen Fulton. There is no way Nery is 5 foot 6. Try 5 foot 3 with 3-inch heels. Figueroa was WAY too big for Nery. Plus, Nery did not have the conditioning to compete with Figueroa. That was not a knockout. That was exhaustion.
Tremendous fight card with three all-action fights. Roman showed his class with slick boxing. Too bad he just doesn’t have enough pop in his punches to stop his opponents.
As for the main event, Figueroa does a lot of things wrong. He throws wide punches, he’s not fast, and he tends to smother his shots by getting in too close. He looked sloppy in the first four rounds and most of his punches were not effective because he wasn’t giving himself enough room to get leverage on his shots.
The one advantage that Brandon has is that he can fight all night at a fast pace and gets better as the fight goes on. Both fighters were doing a lot of missing and Nery appeared to be outworking Figueroa going into the 5th round. However, the body shots were taking their toll and as Nery slowed down, Figueroa finally got the right distance figured out and started hitting him cleanly. He mixed punches to body and head and Nery looked worn out in the sixth round.
While the ending was sudden, Nery looked ready to go in the previous round and it was obvious he couldn’t maintain the pace Brandon set.
Brandon really needs to up his game when he faces Fulton. He is too easy to hit with straight shots. He needs to tighten up his shots and not smother himself whenever he gets in close. However, Fulton needs to be in shape to go 12 hard rounds under Figueroa’s relentless pressure. I look forward to that fight.
Nery looked like a poor man’s Cotto. Quick in your face start by Nery and then a lot of unnatural, awkward and energy wasting boxing from the outside as he tried to stay away from the stronger man. Great card. But first 2 fights made the main event look slow of hand and very sloppy.
It was a sloppy fight, entertaining with a relentless mind set for Figueroa, Nery was connecting the better combos, but Figueroa’s decisiveness.
Fulton will be too much for The Christopher Street Kid. Fulton will destroy Figueroa.
If he BOXES. But if he lets Figueroa push him to the ropes and lets him make it an ugly fight, then he going to have one heck of a time trying to keep the “Heartbreaker” off of him and make it a hard fight. He’ll be the favorite to win by decision, but you never know and that why we fight.
Wow that was a fantastic card. All three fights were fun to watch! Fulton better be ready to go!
Heartbreaker got over on a small weak dude. He looked like a bona-fide catcher and will play right into to Fulton’s strengths. Not a lot of dimension to his game, just high pressure and volume punching… thats exciting while it lasts, but his face is his defense. Fulton must be salivating at someone that easy to hit. Cool Boy TKO 7. West Coast please stand down on this Figueroa kid…
Where can I see this fight
I never thought Figueroa would be victorious. Nery looked bigger.