By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated Brandon Figueroa of Weslaco, Texas is scheduled to take on veteran Moises Flores of Mexico at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California this Sunday, January 13th. The 10-round featherweight fight can be seen live in North America on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes. Flores last fought in June when he dropped a unanimous decision to WBA Super Bantamweight Champion Daniel Roman for his first loss as a pro. Figueroa was last in the ring in September when he stopped Oscar Escandon in the 10th round.
The 32-year-old Flores is a former IBO and interim WBA Super Bantamweight Champion who climbs through the ropes with an impressive mark of 25-1 with 17 Kos. He’s 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69-inch reach and has 127 rounds under his belt since turning pro back in 2008. He’s got pretty good power with a current knockout ratio of 61 percent. Nicknamed Chucky, Flores doesn’t always use his size by boxing on the outside as he isn’t afraid to mix it up on the inside. He fought in his homeland exclusively for the first several years of his pro career before making his debut in the U.S. in 2014.
He faced interim WBA World Super Bantamweight Champion Oscar Escandon in April, 2015 and won the belt by split decision in an entertaining slugfest. He defended the title against Luis Emanuel Cusolito and Paulus Ambunda and also won the IBO crown with the win over Ambunda. Flores was also stopped in the first round by Guillermo Rigondeaux in June of 2017, but it was ruled an illegal blow and called a no-contest.
Figeuroa is just 22 years old and climbs through the ropes with a perfect record of 17-0 along with 12 Kos. He’s boxed 79 rounds since turning pro in 2015 and is 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 72-inch reach. This gives him a three-inch reach advantage over Flores, but he’s an inch shorter. Figueroa has good power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 71 per cent. He’s also displayed a pretty solid chin up to now as well.
The biggest wins in Figueroa’s career have been against Escandon, Victor Proa and Fatiou Fassinou. He’s the brother of Omar Figueroa and a good young prospect, but will be stepping up in class on Sunday night against Flores. He’ll need to be ready for Flores’ volume punching in the early rounds and then take over the fight if his opponent should happen to slow down.
Prediction…
This is a pretty good matchup as we’ll find out just how good Figueroa is. He has a 10-year age advantage on Flores, but lacks his power. I think Figueroa may take a few rounds to figure things out, but he can’t wait too long since this is just a 10-round fight. I’m expecting a good, competitive contest with Figueroa doing just enough to win it on points.
