Omar Figueroa hopes 2016 brings world title and overdue respect
Omar Figueroa's life now is a far cry from his upbringing living in a tiny, cramped trailer with his parents and three siblings in Welasco, Texas.
The all-action fighter will headline a PBC show on network television for the second time Saturday and is inching closer to his first world-title opportunity in a new weight class. The 25-year-old makes a good living doing what he loves and has a loyal following his hometown of Waco, Texas. Yet he's not satisfied.
The 140-pound contender feels he's been disregarded in the sport, and after an injury-riddled 2015, finally feels fully healthy and ready to show his worth. Figueroa will have a chance to prove his mettle against former champ Antonio DeMarco in a 12-round fight at the AT&T Center in San Antonio (8:30 p.m. ET, NBC).
"I felt like Golden Boy never really gave me the importance I deserve, maybe they saw me as a defective machine because I kept getting injured and couldn't fight as often as I wanted to," Figueroa (25-0-1, 18 KOs) told Paste BN Sports. "And it was frustrating for a long time. Now that I'm at a new weight and being with PBC, I feel like it's the perfect opportunity to really exploit what I'm capable of doing. That's what 2016 is all about. That's what's going to propel me to where I really belong."
Figueroa, who spent much of his childhood in Mexico, won a world title at 135 pounds under the guidance of Oscar De La Hoya's company, before defecting to Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions organization this year. Figueroa's battle with Nihito Arakawa was one of the best bouts of 2013, but he was unable to capitalize on the momentum.
He injured both hands during the fight, and then suffered a nasty cut over his eye against Jerry Belmontes, which kept him out of the ring for nine months. Figueroa moved up to 140 pounds with a win over Ricky Burns in May, but says he was far from 100%.
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He prepared for the bout with a fractured left hand and was in a cast for all but one week of the eight-week camp. He says the ailment precluded him from throwing the jab during his decision victory over Burns, and felt he could have stopped him if he was at full strength.
Figueroa was originally slated to face off with DeMarco on Sept. 26, but tendonitis in his elbow forced him to withdraw. DeMarco was wiped out by Rances Barthelemy in June and retired in the ring. The veteran has seen far better days after a litany of grueling matches, but says fans will find out why he came back Saturday.
The bout was scheduled to serve as the co-feature under a Deontay Wilder title defense, so when it was rescheduled as main event in prime time, criticism followed. DeMarco isn't expected to test Figueroa, but the fighter says "I don't choose my opponents or how they fight."
"I'd rather be known as the guy who goes in there and fights his heart out vs. the guy who is boring," he said. "We get paid to entertain people. We're modern gladiators. Why would I go in there and bore the crowd? I'd be executed. It's like that saying goes, 'I'm here for a good time, not a long time.'
" … I just think the boxing world doesn't really take me seriously. I love being the underdog and love being overlooked. The world is going to see I belong up there with all those big names."
Photo by Nathan Lambrecht/The Monitor via AP