Pantera Nery Vs Heartbreaker Figueroa firefight!

WBC Press

For those fight fans and aficionados who love to see a pulsating and sensational ring war, that certainly won`t extend to the full distance, this unification slugfest, starring Luis Nery and Brandon Lee Figueroa going at it toe to toe, isn`t one to miss, because they themselves certainly won`t, when the bell rings and intense action immediately gets underway.

At stake in this master blaster, is Luis` WBC Super bantamweight belt and Brandon`s WBA super bantamweight strap. It`s going to be a titanic test of dishing out an avalanche offense, for both loves nothing better than a real close-in tear-up, fighting on the front foot with the pedal right down to the canvass. Expansive ring size in this one, probably won`t matter one iota.

At five feet five inches tall, Luis is giving away three inches in height. Luis’s reach is sixty-six inches, while Brandon`s wingspan is seventy-two inches. This won`t matter very much, because both loves fighting close in, testing an opponent`s chin, constitutional fortitude, and mindset resolve, via a zesty willingness to swop cascades of pulverizing power punches. Give and take to test, who gives way. The two of them are pressure cooker fighters, throwing high volumes of punches. Brandon favors softening up opponents with a crunching body attack. Luis also likes to lambast the body but is more of a headhunter by choice.

Southpaw Luis (31-0, 24 KO`s) who`s twenty-six and comes from Tijuana, won the WBC bantamweight championship before moving up to this division, and just as well because he had problems in making the lower weight category. Drinking gallons of water is not the best way to manage poundage or your health, short or long term. Physically he`s fully matured, sporting a bushy pirate-style beard yet no mustache. There`s an Old Testament aura about his appearance, but he shuns being a prophet, preferring to let his punching power deliver the sermon, chapter, and verse.

By contrast, Brandon (21-0-1, 16 KO`s) aged 24, from Weslaco, Texas who`s the younger brother of former WBC lightweight champion Omar “Panterita” Figueroa, hardly looks old enough to shave. Every bit the blue-eyed boy in appearance he resembles a svelte slim framed teenage male model on the catwalk, who`s hankering after a good square meal…plus dessert with topping.

But looks can be deceivingly deceptive. When it comes to fighting, Brandon is ruthlessly robust and utterly unrelenting, for starters and the main course. He doesn`t seem to overly mind taking a few dollops to land his own and has been marked around the eyes several times, while moving up the food chain, to savor the juicier menus.

Luis` previous fight before this, for the vacant WBC super bantamweight title against hard as nails Aaron Alameda on 26^th September last year, didn`t go as he planned, because although he dominated Aaron, it went the full distance. Inactivity of more than a year since his KO win against Juan Carlos Payano seems to have blunted his scintilla edge on that particular occasion. Prior to that, he`d calmly stopped eleven opponents in a row, including winning the WBC bantamweight championship, blasting out Shinsuke Yamanka in four rounds with the Japanese warrior`s corner saving him.

Then a positive test result for Zilpanterol, which Nery insisted came from food contamination. A second B test came back as negative. Yamanka was re-instated as champion and a rematch was ordered. But then another unpalatable surprise, as Nery came in three pounds over the limit, to the fury and scorn of Japanese officials, who are unwavering sticklers for absolute discipline viz weight requirements, which they insist must invariably and honorably be met on the dot and to the letter.

With the title off the table for himself, Nery won via a second-round KO, but won`t be fighting again in Japan, any time soon and probably any time there ever again.

Nery who`s now trained by Ismael Ramirez, has been sparring a lot in Tijuana, running hills and dales for the upcoming power punching encounter to re-empower and re-invigorate his KO ballistics, by gaining even more energizing stamina. He and Eddy Reynoso had parted company after the Alameda fight on friendly and mutually respectful terms.

Right now, Luis like Brandon is in: “It`s him or me” war mode, and says he isn`t interested in the Pretty Boy epithets being bestowed upon his baby-faced opponent`s narrow shoulders. It`s going to be a good, bad, and ugly brawl, with power and punch resistance being the hardcore elements tested to their very fullest.

Brandon is determined to leave his mark on the sport with this as the defining fight of his career thus far. He`s fought nine times less than Luis. You could argue that he hasn`t built the same battle-hardened experience, but on the other hand, he`s a tad fresher.

With Brandon`s training, well…it`s all in the family. Namely dad Omar Sr, his big brother Omar and his sister Omaya, another stunning beauty in the team. They all know the scale of the task immediately ahead, its magnitude and cloying magma that Brandon will have to pour all over Luis if he`s to win. It`s all about the calculation and execution of high-risk stakes in this duel. Close to the chest poker, armed with red hot pokers.

What Brandon does best is stick to an opponent like glue with a two-fisted attack, often switching from conventional to southpaw as the openings present themselves.

Brandon won the WBA Interim title by defeating Yonfrez Parejo with hand-to-hand trench warfare. Living up to his nickname he kept punching until the walloped Venezuelan called it quits at the end of the eighth. In the dazzling sunshine, Ring Announcer Jimmy Lennon was wearing dark glasses, but the defeated fighter looked as if he needed them a whole lot more.

In his first defense, Brandon came up against the short, squat, and durable Javier Nicolas Chacon. It almost went the distance but in the twelfth and final round, a withering right to the ribs followed up a combo to the head, and then a pinpoint right uppercut through the guard, brought down the curtain.

Promoted to full regular WBA champ, Brandon then engaged in a battle royal against talented and tough Julio Ceja, who came in a naughty four and a half pounds over the weight limit and lasted the distance.

Then on to Damien Vazquez with a KO in the tenth with a right-left to be body, Referee Gary Rosario stopping the bout. During the previous round Ref, Gary who was imposing a break had accidentally pushed Brandon to the canvas. Just before the tenth had started the Ring Doctor had looked long hand hard into Damien`s forlorn swollen face before allowing him to dejectedly, but bravely plod out for more of the same.

In this fight, Brandon will be against a like-minded puncher and he would do well to pick his punches and avoid taking too many to get them in, because, like him, Luis can really bang, rather than fizzle with pop.

Luis` left hook and left cross are formidable weapons. He can also sink in some eye-watering rib ticklers. While Brandon`s right uppercut, right hook, and constant body bulldozing never stop punching, is particularly effective. Peak condition, optimum work rate, but also a cunning and guile to slip punches, is sorely needed.

Luis’s one-punch power appears to be crisper, but if the fight goes beyond the halfway point, Brandon`s blistering nonstop attack could cause significant wear and tear. Many boxing matches are built up, billed, and even overinflated as a looming war. This one will live up to and exceed all the hype. It`s between two fiercely proud unbeaten fighters.

The winner will take on WBO champion Stephen Fulton Jr, who`s also undefeated, on September 11^th if the victor has sufficiently recovered from a ring of fire ordeal.