ONTARIO, California – After spending most of his career in the 122-pound division, Brandon Figueroa feels completely comfortable fighting at the featherweight limit of 126 pounds.
Mark Magsayo apparently doesn’t feel quite the same way. Magsayo, a former WBC featherweight champion, came in overweight Friday for their 12-round, 126-pound bout for the WBC interim championship Saturday night.
Figueroa got on the California State Athletic Commission’s scale at 125¾ pounds during a weigh-in at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Ontario Airport. Magsayo officially weighed in at 126¾ pounds.
According to CSAC rules, Magsayo was given two hours to come back to the scale at or below the featherweight limit. If he fails to do so, the WBC belt will only be at stake for Figueroa.
Regardless, Figueroa, 26, and Magsayo, 27, will fight in the main event of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader from nearby Toyota Arena.
Magsayo (24-1, 16 KOs), a native Filipino who resides in Valencia, California, lost the WBC featherweight title in his last fight to Rey Vargas, who defeated Magsayo by split decision in their 12-round bout July 9 at Alamodome in San Antonio. The WBC sanctioned Figueroa-Magsayo as an interim championship match because Mexico’s Vargas (30-1, 22 KOs), who still owns the WBC featherweight title, moved up four pounds for his most recent fight, a 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat to O’Shaquie Foster (20-2, 11 KOs) on February 11 at Alamodome.
Figueroa (23-1-1, 18 KOs), of Weslaco, Texas, became the WBC’s number one contender in the 126-pound division by stopping Phoenix’s Carlos Castro (27-2, 12 KOs) in the sixth round on the Vargas-Magsayo undercard. Now that he has lost in his fight for the WBC 130-pound crown, Vargas is expected to return to the featherweight division to defend his WBC belt against the Figueroa-Magsayo winner.
Most sportsbooks list Figueroa as an approximate 3-1 favorite to beat Magsayo.
The official weights for the Figueroa-Magsayo undercard are listed below.
Showtime
9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT
Jarrett Hurd (24-2, 16 KOs), Accokeek, Maryland, 159¼ pounds vs. Armando Resendiz (13-1, 9 KOs), Compostela, Nayarit, Mexico, 161 pounds, 10 rounds, super middleweights.
Elijah Garcia (13-0, 11 KOs), Wittmann, Arizona, 158½ pounds vs. Amilcar Vidal (16-0, 12 KOs), Montevideo, Uruguay, 159 pounds, 10 rounds, middleweights.
Showtime Sports’ YouTube channel
6:30 p.m. ET; 3:30 p.m. PT
Terrell Gausha (22-3-1, 11 KOs), Cleveland, 156½ pounds vs. Brandyn Lynch (12-1-1, 9 KOs, 2 NC), Los Angeles, 155½ pounds, 10 rounds, middleweights.
Travon Marshall (7-0, 6 KOs), Capitol Heights, Maryland, 145½ pounds vs. Justin DeLoach (19-5, 10 KOs), Augusta, Georgia, 147¼ pounds, 8 rounds, welterweights.
Enriko Gogokhia (13-0-2, 8 KOs), Zugdidi, Republic of Georgia, 143 pounds vs. Samuel Teah (18-4-1, 8 KOs), Philadelphia, 141½ pounds, 10 rounds, welterweights.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.