On Sunday, September 30th, 2018, Brandon “The Heartbreaker” Figueroa of Weslaco, Texas defeated the Colombian Oscar “El Guerrero” Escandon via tenth round knockout at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California. The super bantamweight match was scheduled for ten rounds and ended at 1:42 of the last one with a right hook from Figueroa to the chin of Escandon.

Figueroa dressed in blue everything (trunks, boots, and gloves) was the younger opponent and the more experienced Escandon fought in black trunks. Both fighters appeared cautious early in the fight and inconsequently tripped over each other in the second round. The shorter Escandon tried to get inside of Figueroa very early. Escandon’s trainer could be heard yelling, “abajo no le gusta;” but Figueroa did not appear uncomfortable adjusting to his shorter opponent. The second round culminated with hard hitting combinations from both Latino boxers.

Escandon in his corner by Andrea Antolini

Figueroa appeared bloody from a head-butt in the third round. As blood dripped down the face of the young fighter he kept throwing hard punches undeterred. In the fourth, it began to become apparent that Escandon was having a difficult time getting inside of Figueroa, as his trainer instructed. And during the fifth, Figueroa kept throwing punches that only landed on Escandon’s gloves. Figueroa fought in a semi-crouching stance to adjust for his shorter opponent. The stance allowed Figueroa to throw punches chest-level directly into the head of Escandon. Escandon finished the fifth round with a hard right and Figueroa responded with a grin, as if to say it did not hurt.

The seventh round was one of the least entertaining of the good match. And Figueroa appeared to land a low-blow which the referee did not see or did not judge to be too low. Escandon’s trainer was visibly upset and had to be asked to remain seated. The trainer kept yelling “esta lastimado,” in reference to Figueroa, to motivate or inform Escandon. While Figueroa was punching harder and more precisely, Escandon was a formidable opponent landing hard punches throughout the fight. “No le des distancia” were also instructions from Escadon’s trainer. Escandon appeared to benefit from fighting closer to his tall opponent and thus limiting Figueroa’s ability to extend his arms to punch. In the ninth round, Escadon’s trainer was yelling for him to throw “duro y abajo” and “al higado.” The strategy from the trainer continued to be for Escandon to fight low and inside.

Figueroa finally put an end to the entertaining fight with a combination of punches culminating with a right hook in the tenth round. Escandon went down to the mat, stumbled and tried to get up, but ultimately fell back down on his knees. He then walked towards the ropes but needed help to keep his balance. “Escandon is tough. He is short and it was hard to get to the body,” said a tired Figueroa. “I can fight both inside and outside, but his size did matter. I had to get in there and he wasn’t backing up. I was ready for this fight. Opportunities like this don’t come often so I had to take it and run with it. I have been training all summer and I am ready to take a few days off and get right back into it.”

Brandon “The Heartbreaker” Figueroa and Oscar “El Guerrero” Escandon entertained the crowd who had originally anticipated watching Victor Ortiz box against Juan Molina Jr. The fight was cancelled after Victor Ortiz was charged with sexual assault just days before the date of his scheduled match.

A victorious Brandon “The Heartbreaker” Figueroa by Andrea Antolini

Escandon lands a hard punch on Figueroa by Andrea Antolini

Figueroa throws a left jab by Andrea Antolini

Escandon lands a right punch to body by Andrea Antolini