Don't let Brandon Figueroa's babyface fool you. He's "The Heartbreaker" for a reason.
A persistently digging Figueroa crumpled Luis Nery with a left hook to the solar plexus toward a seventh-round KO on Saturday night at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. With the victory, Figueroa snatched the WBC title and added it to his WBA (Regular) strap to become the new unified world junior featherweight champion of the world.
Figueroa fell behind early in the fight due to Nery's relentless pressure. That aggression allowed Nery to get within the nearly six inches of reach deficit that "The Heartbreaker" had over him. DAZN News had it 59-55 in favor of Nery at the end of the sixth round.
However, that would change drastically during the seventh, when Figueroa being content chipping away at Nery's body would pay huge dividends. With Nery noticeably fatigued, Figueroa worked the body some more. He unleashed a left upstairs across the chin, right to the body, and another left across the jaw. Seeing that Nery was ready to go, Figueroa poured it on with a right to the neck and chest before detonating a crunching short left hook to the solar plexus. Nery grimaced but had a delayed reaction in falling to the canvas, on his knees with his forehead to the mat. He rolled over, attempting to rise up off the mat, but was counted out.
The newly crowned unified world junior featherweight champion was greeted in the ring by WBO titleholder Stephen Fulton Jr., who congratulated Figueroa before playfully pulling a Jake Paul and snatching the hat off Figueroa's head.
Figueroa will look to add Fulton's WBO title to his share of hardware when the 122-pound world champs clash on September 11.
Here's how the Figueroa vs. Nery card went.