SAN ANTONIO — Weslaco’s Brandon “The Heartbreaker” Figueroa scored a sixth-round TKO against Carlos Castro in his debut at 126 pounds Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio in a World Boxing Council featherweight title eliminator bout on SHOWTIME.
Figueroa (23-1-1), the former WBC super bantamweight world champion, bounced back from the first loss of his career, suffered against Stephen Fulton last November, to re-enter the win column with a convincing victory over Castro (27-2) in his new weight class.
“Carlos Castro is a great fighter. Shoutout to him and his camp,” Figueroa said. “A big thank you to my team, my dad, my family, my mom, my brother, my sister and everybody who made this possible. San Antonio, thank you, 956, I’m just happy and honored to be here.”
Figueroa now has his eyes on fighting for the WBC featherweight world championship against either Mark Magsayo or Rey Vargas, who also fight Saturday night.
“Pretty proud of myself, but I know there’s a lot of work ahead of me, especially if I’m going to fight the winner of the main event,” Figueroa said. “There’s a lot of work ahead of me. I’m going to look at this fight, study it and get back in the gym.”
During the sixth round, Figueroa found himself in a place he normally puts opponents in — with his back against the ropes fending off punches. “The Heartbreaker” landed a solid combination, turned the tables and put Castro’s back against the ropes. Figueroa proceeded to land a string of unanswered punches to Castro’s head and body, forcing the referee to stop the fight.
“I was just waiting for that shot to the body and once I caught him clean I knew he was hurt. I just flipped him and put my punches together again,” Figueroa said.
Two of the three judges had Figueroa ahead 49-45 and 48-46 on their cards, with one judge with Castro in the lead 48-46.
Figueroa, who landed 149 of 485 punches, knocked Castro down during the third round after a flurry of shots to the body against the ropes. The knockdown by Figueroa was only the second time Castro has touched the canvas in his career.
“I know Carlos Castro is a crafty fighter. I knew I had to be a little bit patient and put the pressure,” Figueroa said. “I had to step back a little bit and I knew I had him and had to put a little bit more pressure.”
Figueroa’s older brother, Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-2-1, 19 KO), is slated to headline a Premier Boxing Champions event against Adrien Broner (34-4-1, 24 KO) on Aug. 20 in at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
