Boxing Challenge: Figueroa oupoints Magsayo

    Brandon Figueroa outpunched and took advantage of two points deducted from his opponent, Mark Magsayo, for holding to win a unanimous decision in a WBC featherweight eliminator to decide the mandatory challenger for champion Rey Vargas.

Figueroa dominated the second half of the fight other than Magsayo's last attempt to pull the fight from the fire in the final round.

The numbers showed the fight fairly equal but Figueroa outworked Magsayo when the fight was on the line and frustrated him into committing the holding violations as Magsayo tired late.

I thought the fight was closer than the judges at 116-100 (official cards 117-109 x2 and 118-108) but Figueroa was the deserved victor.

Figueroa will now face Rey Vargas for Vargas's WBC title and I like Figueroa's chances of pressuring Vargas, who returns to the weight class after a loss for the vacant 130 pound title to O'Shaquie Foster and will have to drop weight, which for a taller, lankier boxer as Vargas could be a problem.

As for Magsayo, the loss is his second in a row after his upset win over Gary Russell and while he hasn't hurt his career very much with the two defeats, Magsayo might be well-suited to take a confidence builder in his next affair.

In the co-feature, former WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd dropped his second fight after rising to the middleweight division and this time to the relatively unheralded Armando Resendiz when the fight was stopped before the start of the tenth and final round due to a deep laceration to Hurd's lip.

Hurd vowed before the fight that he was going to return to the aggressive style that won him two titles at 154 pounds and defeated the likes of Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout, and Tony Harrison, and he did that but he was overpowered by Resendiz, who isn't world-class currently and has a loss on his record to the average Marcos Hernandez.

I had Resendiz ahead on my card at 86-83 and I'm sure this win will get him more fights, while Hurd showed some signs of his former style, he might have to return to the junior middleweight division to make any advances.

The other challenge fight was in Newcastle, England in a WBA junior welterweight eliminator as Ohara Davies knocked out Lewis Ritson in the ninth round.

I haven't seen the fight yet but the reports are that Davies scored a spectacular KO.

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 31 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica:  25 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 24 Pts (5)