ONTARIO, California – Mark Magsayo implied during their final press conference Thursday that he would at least drop Brandon Figueroa during their featherweight title fight Saturday night.
The durable Figueroa reminded Magsayo that Julio Ceja sent Magsayo to the canvas when they fought, but he couldn’t floor Figueroa in their fight, despite that Ceja came in 4½ pounds overweight for their 122-pound championship bout. Ceja and Figueroa fought to a 12-round split draw, whereas Magsayo got up from a fifth-round knockdown and violently knocked Ceja unconscious early in the 10th round of their fight.
“Just expect a great fight,” Figueroa said during their press conference at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Ontario Airport. “I’m no Ceja. I definitely hit way harder than him. You know, especially now at 126, I feel like I’m very strong, very powerful.”
Figueroa (23-1-1, 18 KOs) weighed in at the junior featherweight limit of 122 pounds when he encountered Ceja, who officially weighed 126½ pounds the day before their November 2019 bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Figueroa defeated Ceja 115-113 on the scorecard of judge Lisa Giampa, but judge Don Trella scored Ceja a 116-112 winner and judge Glenn Trowbridge scored their fight a draw, 114-114.
“If you saw the fight, Ceja didn’t knock me down and he knocked a 126-pound Mark Magsayo down,” Figueroa said. “So, I mean, that goes to show that even me at 122, I was able to take Ceja’s power at 126. And, you know, a lotta people don’t know about that, but yeah, Ceja came in 4½ pounds over and, I mean, you guys saw the fight. He didn’t make me buckle. I didn’t budge.
“He hit me with some good shots at 122, and I feel like that goes to show. I know Ceja dropped Magsayo with I think a left hook. And yeah, I mean, that’s on paper, on whatever, but at the end of the day I come to fight. And it’s a different story once they get in the ring with me.”
Ceja battered Magsayo (24-1, 16 KOs) with left hooks to his body during the fifth round before he caught Magsayo with a left hook to his jaw that made Magsayo go down to one knee with 11 seconds remaining in it. Magsayo recovered, however, and came back to record a dramatic knockout thanks to back-to-back right hands that knocked Ceja cold approximately 45 seconds into the 10th round.
Mexico’s Ceja (32-5-1, 28 KOs) retired following his devastating defeat to Magsayo in August 2021 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. He is the only common opponent for Figueroa, 26, and Magsayo, 27, who will box for the WBC interim 126-pound championship in the main event of Showtime’s tripleheader from Toyota Arena (9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT).
Showtime will also air a pair of 10-rounders before Figueroa and Magsayo meet.
Jarrett Hurd (24-2, 16 KOs), a former IBF/IBO/WBA 154-pound champion from Accokeek, Maryland, will meet Mexican middleweight Armando Resendiz (13-1, 9 KOs) in the co-feature. Amilcar Vidal (16-0, 12 KOs), a middleweight contender from Montevideo, Uruguay, is set to oppose 19-year-old prospect Elijah Garcia (13-0, 11 KOs), a southpaw from Wittmann, Arizona, in the opener of this three-bout broadcast.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.