Heartbreaker Figueroa wrecks Ball in 12th

The battle of aggressive volume punchers unfolded to script. Momentum ebbed and flowed with neither man asserting prolonged dominance in any phase of the fight. Despite being born just three weeks apart, Figueroa was painted as the veteran coming into the match up in comparison to Ball, promoted as still on the climb towards a peak as yet unfulfilled.

Experience teaches that high-energy, front foot fighters don't share the longevity of their more elusive contemporaries, Hatton, McGuigan two illustrious examples. However, Ball's unbeaten record coming in coupled with home advantage and the extra rounds Texan Figueroa had completed in reaching tonight's bout added substance to the notion.

In the main, the rounds followed a similar pattern. Ball the edge on strength inside, but Figueroa throwing more in most rounds, from distance and in those clinches. Ball edged the first two rounds with precision, his left uppercut the pick of the shots. Figueroa typically opting to box his way forward as a Southpaw, it seemed to reduce the hand speed and fluidity of his attacks. It is a curiosity that the shorter man was most effective as the counter puncher in the fight, flashing punches between Figueroa's relentless work.

By the 5th round, the stout Liverpudlian was bleeding from the nose and beginning to bust up. A fact which encouraged the idea Figueroa was coming on strong. When he switched to Orthodox, Figueroa's right hand to the body seem particularly potent. Ball didn't flinch but it was easy to assume there would be a reckoning if Figueroa could continue to find those spots.

Ball reasserted a degree of control from the outside in the middle rounds. Efficient and precise, particularly over the open half of the 6th-7th and 8th, he won all three on the Roundtable card - the 8th the most difficult to separate the two gutsy punchers. As the final third of the fight opened, it was open to all outcomes. Ball ahead 5-3, but it could easily have been tighter at this point too.

The belief Figueroa was sloppier from Southpaw was clear, the punches seemed slower and less instinctive. There was no snap on the jab, or the hooks that followed and the lack of 'zing' offered more windows for Ball to land counters. But the crowd were already quietened by the fact their hero was not on the front foot. Figueroa had pushed the champion back consistently. 

Sometimes, a lot of experience of championship rounds erodes fighters at the age of 29 in the Featherweight division. Particularly one like Figueroa who has already climbed the mountain and is a long way from home - and for the first time. In this case it seemed to afford the challenger self-confidence and a sense of calm in the tumult of a razor tight contest. He was setting the tone.

Going into the final round, the fight was in the balance. Scorecards in tight fights where most rounds are competitive can be wildly divergent - as the away fighter Figueroa could be forgiven for assuming he would need to snatch the last. With just a few seconds on the clock, Ball made a mistake and a left hook from Figueroa, from the Orthodox stance, landed clean and Ball fell face first on to the canvas. That he rose and beat referee Steve Grey's count is to his credit. Figueroa needed no invitation to pour on the pressure and forced the soon to be ex-champion through the ropes and Grey had seen enough. The fight was halted at 0:32 of the 12th.

Figueroa and his trainer Manny Robles leapt into each other's arms in exaltation. 

And deservedly so.

He will go on to entertaining bouts in 2026 in a division of capable men.

Ball will need to prove that at 29 in three weeks, he can also do what his conqueror did and retains the appetite to return and move back through contenders toward a title shot.

It will not be easy.