Figueroa vs Magdaleno Predictions: Brandon handing out a knockout

Brandon Figueroa defends his WBC interim featherweight title against Jessie Magdaleno on Saturday, May 4. The fight takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, live on DAZN. Here are my Figueroa vs Magdaleno predictions ahead of a tasty featherweight collision.

Figueroa had been expected to cash in his interim status for a crack at WBC featherweight boss Rey Vargas. But the 27-year-old turned down the opportunity and the champion instead fought to a draw with Britain’s Nick Ball in March.

Now Figueroa gets a similarly tricky assignment in Magdaleno, a former world champion down at junior featherweight. The southpaw has lost just twice in 31 fights, with his signature win coming in 2016 over the great ‘Filipino Flash’ Nonito Donaire. 

Magdaleno is 32 now, far from a fossil, but he is coming off a defeat. He last fought a year ago, dropping a unanimous decision to current WBA featherweight champion Raymond Ford. Magdaleno looks to rebuild here and claim a title that would put him at the front of the queue for another world title chance. 

Standing in his way is Figueroa, a longtime fixture of the elite super bantamweight scene. A former unified WBC and WBA kingpin in the division, ‘The Heartbreaker’ holds a win over Luis Nery, who challenges Naoya Inoue for the undisputed crown on Monday. 

After losing his title to Stephen Fulton via majority decision, Figueroa took his talents to featherweight. A sixth-round stoppage win over highly-ranked Carlos Castro established the Texan in his new home. Brandon got himself a belt in his next fight, outpointing Mark Magsayo to lift the WBC interim crown. This win over the gifted former world champion set up Saturday’s clash.

Figueroa leads the way in the betting, priced as short as 1/16 to prevail. Magdaleno’s 7/1 reflects the fact that his advancing age and loss last time out hint at a decline. He also hasn’t been particularly active, fighting once last year, not at all in 2021 and once in 2020. If decay is coming for Magdaleno, it might be ring rust causing it.

Figueroa is not the sort of opponent you want to face if you’re out of practice. 18 of his 24 wins have come by knockout and the Castro win showed that his power has joined him at featherweight. Isaac Dogboe knocked Magdaleno out in 2018 so it can be done.

Magdaleno can punch, with 18 knockouts of his own, but his arrived in 29 wins. ‘The Heartbreaker’ has never been stopped or even knocked down in his career. If Magdaleno is going to get the job done, you’d imagine he’ll need all 12 rounds to do it.

I don’t think he’ll get that long. The Californian southpaw is not on the level of some of the fighters Figueroa has already beaten. Neither is he of the quality of Stephen Fulton, the cause of the one loss on Figueroa’s record. I can see this one finishing inside the distance and unfortunately for Magdaleno, I can only see one winner.

My pick is Figueroa to retain his title via knockout in rounds 7-9. This selection is priced at 13/5. I believe Magdaleno can have some awkward southpaw success early on, but eventually his opponent will pull away. After taking over the fight, Figueroa will do what is necessary to close the book on this exciting meeting of ex-world champions.

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