New WBA featherweight champ Brandon Figueroa has several options off his dramatic 12th round KO of England's Nick Ball. We examine several of them.
Shortly after the wild celebration Saturday night in the M&S Bank Arena in Liveerpool, England had ended, American Brandon Figueroa began to contemplate what could be next to defend his newly won WBA featherweight crown.
Just moments earlier he had dispatched Liverpool hero and champion Nick Ball with a 12th and final round TKO straight out of a Hollywood-scripted finished. The relentless punching Figueroa had bombed Ball with a left (above) and dropped him almost face first in the opening :30 of the final frame. After Ball rose wearily, he was finished seconds later by another barrage of punches and a right hand that knocked him out, prone on the bottom strand of ropes.
The Liverpool crowd was stunned and silent, and the upset regained a portion the 126 lb. title for the 29 year old Texan Figueroa and now, leads to the ideas of some intriguing fights next.
The victory marked a major rebound for Figueroa, now 27-2-1, 20 KOs, a former WBC featherweight and junior featherweight world champ, but who struggled in both of his fights earlier in 2025. Last February, he lost the WBC 126 lb. title by decision to Stephen Fulton in his first defense. Fulton remains the only fighter to defeat Figueroa, having also handing him a majority-decision loss in their wild, action packed 2021 junior featherweight unification bout.
Hear insider Dan Rafael and I breakdown the Figueroa upset off our podcast here:
Then, returning in July on the undercard of the Mario Barrios-Manny Pacquiao PPV, Figueroa narrowly escaped with a decision win over three-time title challenger Joet Gonzalez in the WBA eliminator fight that earned him the shot at Ball.
For this title challenge, Figueroa worked for the second fight with trainer Manny Robles, who replaced his father, Omar Figueroa Sr. And, Figueroa looked revitalized while competing outside the United States for the first time ever and delivering arguably the most significant win of his 11-year professional career.
So, now we ask- what's next?
Obviously, there could be rematch with the Ball, who dropped to 23-1-1, 13 KOs, and was making his fourth WBA world title defense. However, the rematch would obviously be in the United States. The real question is- would that fight be big enough to headline on a non-PPV or would the fight perhaps be a co-feature on a show?
Another option would be a unification bout and a logical matchup is with IBF champ, Angelo Leo, who is 26-1, 12 KOs, and won that strap with a crushing one punch KO of Luis Alberto Lopez in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico in August 2024 and has defended it once by decision over Japan's Tomoki Kameda in May of 2025.
Leo has previously fought under the Premier Boxing Champions banner and that would seemingly be an easy fight to secure.
There is obvious appeal of the two titles with Hispanic fighters, who could fight anywhere in the West and there would be intrigue.
One more choice could be Brooklyn's Bruce "Shu Shu" Carrington, who just won the vacant WBC 126 lb. crown with a ninth round KO over Carlos Castro on January 31st at Madison Square Garden. "Shu Shu" is 17-0, 10 KOs, an excellent talker and would make an attractive unified opponent. However, he's aligned with Top Rank Boxing and that could be a complication.
Now, we'll see what Figueroa pursues in the coming weeks.