It wasn’t long after Brandon Figueroa’s buzzer-beating knockout win over Nick Ball when pandemonium erupted.
Figueroa was ahead on the scorecards of a back-and-forth fight, as the American left the US boxing scene for the first time in his career to challenge Ball for the Brit’s featherweight world championship. And, because of a brutal finish in the 12th and final round — one in which he battered Ball through the ropes — it’s Figueroa who returns to the States with the dub, and the win.
Figueroa broke Ball’s heart with a left hook before unrelenting pressure closed the show for good, less than a minute into the 12th, saying later that he felt he was “dominating” the fight as a whole. “I caught him with a short left hook and then went out there and finished it,” he told DAZN.
Victory for Figueroa advanced his pro boxing record to 27 wins (20 KOs) against two losses and a draw. It also sees him recapture one of the four major titles at featherweight, having lost another of the belts last year to Stephen Fulton (his second loss to his fellow American).
With a championship back in his possession, Figueroa said he intends to unify.
This means possible fights against one of, if not more, from: the WBO champ Rafael Espinoza, the IBF ruler Angelo Leo, or the WBC champion Bruce Carrington.
The win wasn’t the only headline from the event, though, as beer and other objects were thrown into the ring, together with an incident that saw Ball’s team object to Figueroa’s celebrations in the ring while Nick remained uneasy, and beaten. “We didn’t mean anything [by it],” Figueroa said, before praising his opponent.
At the time of the stoppage, Figueroa was ahead on two of the three scorecards — by three points on both, leading 106 to 103. This was offset by the third judge, who was scoring a 107-102 victory for Ball at that point.
Had there been no last-minute drama, the final round would have had no other impact on the fight, with a Ball win or Figueroa in the 12th, leading to a split decision victory for Figueroa.