A year after losing a world featherweight title, Brandon Figueroa won another with a dramatic 12th-round stoppage win over Nick Ball on Saturday.
The Mexican-American, known as ‘The Heartbreaker,’ silenced Ball’s home support at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England, by stopping him in the final round to win the WBA world featherweight title.
Ball lost the belt in a fourth defense after a close fight with two-weight world champion Figueroa came to the boil early in the last round.
Figueroa (27-2-1, 20 KOs) sent Ball (23-1-1, 13 KOs) to the canvas with a sweeping left hook, and then continued the pressure to seal a TKO win 32 seconds into Round 12, with Ball hanging through the ropes after a volley of punches.
“I felt like I was dominating. I caught him with a short left hook and then went out there and finished it,” Figueroa, who was ahead on two of the judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage, told DAZN.
“I have been away from my family for three months. I came out here 10 days before the fight, and our game plan worked and shoutout to my trainer Manny Robles.
“I want to fight in front of my own fans, and I want to unify.”
The victory sets up Figueroa, 29, for a possible world title unification fight against one of the other world champions: Rafael Espinoza (WBO), Bruce Carrington (WBC) and Angelo Leo (IBF).
Since winning the WBA belt with a split decision over Raymond Ford in June 2024, Ball has been one of the best in the 126-pound division, but he spent most of Saturday’s fight on his backfoot against Figueroa.
This was just what Figueroa, from Weslaco, Texas, needed. He lost the WBC world featherweight title to Stephen Fulton on points a year ago in a rematch, after also losing to his fellow American in a world title unification clash at junior featherweight in 2021.
At 5-foot-2, Ball was 7 inches shorter than his challenger, but Ball had no problems landing his punches early.
Ball, 28, immediately made an impact when he threaded a right uppercut through Figueroa’s guard in the first round. As Figueroa stepped forward later in the first, Ball landed more uppercuts, and his quick combinations again found the target in Round 2.
Figueroa had more success in the third, especially to the body, and in the fourth, he out-landed Ball with power punches.
Ball landed some nice shots at the end of the fifth, including a looping right hand, and he was the busier fighter in Round 6, too. As Figueroa’s output dipped, Ball took advantage, landing screw shots and a reliable jab in the seventh.
Despite his reach and height advantages, Figueroa fought at close range at times, a strategy Ball welcomed in some of the later rounds. Figueroa increased his volume of punches in Round 9, but he got caught on the counter a few times in the 10th.
Perhaps sensing he needed a big finish after a close fight, Ball came out firing in the final round, but he was beaten to the punch by Figueroa’s huge left hook.
Ball was left facedown on the canvas, but he got back up only for Figueroa to send him crashing through the ropes with a flurry of punches. Referee Steve Gray then stopped the fight with Ball draped over the ropes.
