This content is protected How is Figueroa the mandatory when Cuello is the interim champion? We all know that Mendoza and Haymon are in cahoots, that's why PBC fighters always get favorable rankings with the organization. The people at the WBA are sleazeballs, so what can you do. Anyways, this is a pretty fun fight. If this fight materializes, this would be a early candidate for fight of the year in 2026. In 2022 & 2024, the FOTYs where in the same division and for the same belt. Featherweight has been one of the most consistent divisions in the sport, despite not having any unification bouts since who knows when (guess all of them are waiting for Inoue).
The WBA is like that, they will just skip an Interim Champ and order the number 1 challenger as mandatory, its why I don't understand why fighters pursue the WBA without having strong promotional backing, because they will just be skipped over. Yeah a great fight though, I'm leaning towards Figueroa but Ball has a certain "winningness" about him which could tip things.
I agree that's very strange that Brandon Figueroa can have another chance for a world belt.. his last fight against Joet Gonzalez is a robbery for me, Joet Gonzalez won that fight. It's one of the most big robbery of the year for me...
Would prefer Ball to fight Espinoza but Figueroa is okay, its a solid match-up. He is a pretty lucky man to be mandatory though. I think will be similar to the Ball V Goodman fight, a competitive fight but Ball wins clearly.
