Victim of injustice

MP Promotions head Sean Gibbons called it a joke and said the judging in the Mark Magsayo-Brandon Figueroa 12-round fight for the interim WBC featherweight title was ridiculous at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California, last weekend. “It wasn’t a complete travesty of justice,” he said. “The fight was very, very close. Could’ve been 115-113 for Magsayo or 115-113 for Figueroa or a draw. Seven rounds for Mark, five for Figueroa or the other way around. The referee (Thomas Taylor) was horrible. I thought the score was whacked.”

Magsayo tired out in the late rounds, clearly a result of difficulty in making weight. At the weigh-in the day before, he was 3/4 over the 126-pound limit and took two hours to tip the scales on the dot. Magsayo was sharp at the start but lost steam as the fight became a war of attrition. In the eighth and 11th rounds, Taylor took a point off Magsayo for excessive holding. In the 10th, Magsayo went down twice but Taylor ruled both a slip. He could’ve been buying time to catch his breath.

The judges’ scorecards weren’t close and the two-point deductions didn’t make a difference as the margins were surprisingly wide. Zachary Young scored the last eight rounds for Figueroa and saw it 118-108 like Magsayo was a punching bag. Gary Ritter and late replacement Fernando Villarreal had it 117-109, awarding eight of the last nine stanzas to Figueroa. Villarreal took Rudy Barragan’s place.

The scorecards didn’t reflect what the CompuBox stats showed. In the stats, Magsayo outlanded Figueroa in eight of the 12 rounds. In total punches, Magsayo connected 179 to Figueroa’s 176 and he also had the edge in jabs landed, 19-15. Figueroa had a hairline advantage in power shots delivered, 161-160. Figueroa beat Magsayo to the punch, 20-11 in the seventh and 20-13 in the 10th. But even as Magsayo slowed down in the homestretch, he still landed more punches, 11-10 in the 11th and 20-19 in the 12th.

Gibbons said making weight was a big problem for Magsayo. “Going from 128 to 126 was death,” he said. “Looks like Mark’s going up to 130 (superfeatherweight limit). The scorecards were totally absurd. Mark basically won the first half. The points deducted off Mark were weird especially the second. That ref should have worked Manny Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather. Floyd would’ve been disqualified by the way Taylor refs a fight.”

Mexican boxing writer Hector Isla said the unanimous decision for Figueroa was “incomprehensible.” He noted, “Magsayo had to go against the current (but) it was a balanced battle … if Magsayo lacked a bit of physical condition because he looked exhausted, despite everything, he had the air to finish with a beating drum … Brandon behaved bravely to withstand the best shots from the Filipino and threw all his artillery to hurt his opponent and ended up bleeding from his right eyelid.”

Figueroa will advance to challenge WBC featherweight ruler Rey Vargas while Magsayo has to rethink his plans for the future. If he moves up in weight, it’ll be a new battlefield to wage war. If he stays in the featherweight division, Magsayo must pick up a win or two over a contender and groom himself to face either Vargas or Figueroa again. The only losses in Magsayo’s career were to both fighters.