Brandon Figueroa became the new WBA featherweight champion in astonishing fashion, as he stopped Nick Ball in the final round of their bout when behind on the cards.
Ball (23-1-1, KO13) was making the fourth defence of his belt, the last a points win against Sam Goodman in Riyadh last August, while former world champion Figueroa (27-2-1, KO20) was coming off a points win over Joet Gonzalez after losing his WBC crown to Stephen Fulton.
Ball landed a cracking uppercut in the opener, and found a home for the same shot at the start of the second, and although Figueroa responded, he was being put under heavy pressure by the champion.
Figueroa was boxing the better, but Ball’s shots were carrying far more weight, his left hand landing almost constantly, but the challenger had his best round in the fourth, working the body of Ball to good effect.
Ball’s nose was bloodied in the fifth, but he didn’t waver, instead he continued to land the cleaner punches and his counter punching was proving too much for Figueroa to overcome.
He battled gamely but his punches lacked purchase, although a triple jab landed in round eight and he backed that up with a solid ninth where he pushed Ball back and worked the body of the home fighter.
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After a give and take tenth, Ball regained control, the power punches returning to the fore, but just as he looked to be easing to retaining his title on the cards, Figueroa had a huge surprise up his sleeve, a left hand dropping Ball in the final frame.
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Ball survived the count but then fell through the ropes under heavy fire, and the content was sensationally waved off.
Andrew Cain vs Alejandro Gonzalez
In an absolute slugfest, Andrew Cain (15-1, KO13) took victory from the jaws of defeat to halt Alejandro Gonzalez (19-7-3, KO11) in the ninth round of their bantamweight clash which was a WBC title eliminator.
Cain looked down and out in the eighth, as he was dropped twice from body shots, but he gamely survived, and rallied to deck Gonzalez twice a round later, with the visitor deciding not to continue with a badly damaged eye.
Remaining undercard
At super flyweight, Jack Turner (14-0, KO13) stayed unbeaten, forcing Juan Carlos Martinez Urbina (10-4-1, KO4) to retire after three rounds.
Urbina was down in the opening round and docked a point in the third for holding.
In eight-round contests, Brad Strand (14-2, KO5) was too good for Ruben Lezama Gonzalez (12-7, KO11), as he forced the visitor’s corner to throw the towel in during round three of their super bantamweight contest.
Stephen Clarke (9-0, KO2) remained unbeaten, stopping Lewis Howells (3-6, KO0) in the last round at middleweight.
The six-rounders on the card saw an upset loss for an unbeaten prospect.
Paddy Lacey (12-1, KO2) was defeated by a single point in his middleweight contest against Jack Swallow (4-3-1, KO1), who took a 58-57 win.
Lucas Szeto-Biswana (5-0, KO2) dropped Liam McMillan (2-5, KO0) three times en route to a final-round stoppage win at welterweight, and William Birchall (4-0, KO4) halted Caine Singh (4-9-2, KO0) in the opener of their super featherweight meeting.
Super bantamweight prospect Hassan Ishaq (3-0, KO3) stopped Leonardo Baez (5-17, KO0).
In four-rounders, Luke Turner (2-0, KO1) took a final-round win against Jensen Irving (5-35-2, KO0) at middleweight, and super featherweight debutant Sam Norris (1-0, KO0) won all four rounds against Jack England (1-14-1, KO0).
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