MARK Magsayo lost in his bid for the interim WBC featherweight crown, absorbing a unanimous decision at the hands of Brandon Figueroa on Saturday at the Toyoa Center in Ontario, California (Sunday, Manila time).
The scorecards read 117-109, 117-109, 118-108, all in favor of Figueroa in a surprisingly wide winning margin of what was an exciting back-and-forth fight between two raging warriors.
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The Filipino, though, was deducted two points in rounds 8 and 11 for excessive holding.
The loss was the second straight in Magsayo’s career in the wake of a split decision against Rey Vargas last July where he yielded his WBC title belt.
His record now stands at 24-2 with 16 KOs.
Magsayo didn’t hide his disappointment the way the judges scored what had been an entertaining fight.
“I thought the fight was much closer than the scores indicated,” said the Filipino in the post-fight presser. “I don’t know how to explain the scorecards or the point deductions. It’s very disappointing.”
The Filipino won two of the first three rounds in the three judges’ scorecards, but then it was all Figueroa from then on although Magsayo kept on pressing the action despite appearing to tire out as the fight progressed.
“Man, I just went out there and wanted it and took the fight right to him,” Figueroa said, who improved to a 24-1-1 record, including 18 KOs. “I wanted this fight so bad. He came back a little, but once I hit him with a body shot it affected him and I put pressure, pressure, pressure on him.”
The native of Texas is expected to earn a mandatory shot at Vargas, the full titlist who briefly stepped aside to vie for the vacant WBC super-featherweight crown, but lost by unanimous decision against O’Shaquie Foster.
Vargas watched the fight at ringside.
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