Brandon Figueroa Loses WBA Featherweight Title on the Scale

Brandon Figueroa's second reign as a featherweight world champion has ended without him throwing a punch in defence of the belt. The 29-year-old Texan was stripped of his WBA 126-pound title at the weigh-in after failing to make the limit ahead of his scheduled first defence against Tomoki Kameda in the co-main event of Sebastian Fundora vs Ermal Hadribeaj.

Figueroa registered 127.4 pounds on Friday, 1.4 pounds over the featherweight limit, and did not step on the scale a second time. Kameda made weight at 125.8 pounds. If the fight went ahead, only the Japanese veteran would be eligible to win the now vacant title. Organisers had a backup plan in place: should the bout be cancelled, a super middleweight contest between former champion Armando Resendiz and Australia's Koen Mazoudier would move into the co-feature slot, with Resendiz having accepted on short notice as a replacement for Jermall Charlo.

A short reign

Figueroa won the WBA belt in February with a knockout of former champion Nick Ball, travelling into his opponent's territory to take the title. Three years before that, he had captured his first title at 126 pounds by beating former champion Mark Magsayo for the interim WBC belt. The Kameda bout would have been his fifth title fight in seven appearances at featherweight.

At 5-foot-9, Figueroa is one of the tallest fighters in the division. He previously campaigned at 122 pounds and had never had a significant problem with the scale before this miss. Three of the four major titles at 130 pounds, the next division up, will be on the line when O'Shaquie Foster meets Emanuel Navarrete on October 24.

Kameda's opportunity

Kameda, 35, brings 47 professional fights of experience and has never been stopped. He arrives off a majority decision defeat to IBF titleholder Angelo Leo in May and has gone 2-2 in his last four outings. After the weight miss, Kameda is the only fighter in the bout who can leave with the WBA title.