Antonio DeMarco announced his retirement in the ring after losing to Rances Barthelemy in June. In returning to take on Omar Figueroa Jr., he proved he had plenty of fight left in him.
Figueroa had DeMarco fully in hand throughout the first half of the fight, relying on a tremendous output that would eventually see him outpunch his opponent 1,092-587. It all added up to a win by unanimous decision on scorecards of 116-112 and 115-113 twice to preserve his unbeaten mark Saturday night in San Antonio.
Omar Figueroa Jr. (26-0-1, 18 KOs) smothered Antonio DeMarco (31-6-1, 23 KOs) over the first six rounds, keeping the Mexican southpaw on the ropes, hemmed in and unable to get much of anything off. It was like watching someone get attacked by a particularly hostile blanket.
Figueroa was relentless, moving from the head to the body with ease and never throwing single shots. Everything came in twos and threes or more, but somehow, the gritty DeMarco weathered the storm and never went down.
DeMarco came alive in the seventh round, working an uppercut that helped force Figueroa back as he started to effectively pivot out and return fire.
DeMarco's rally culminated in an 11th round that put what had been a no-doubter very much in doubt. He tagged Figueroa with a brutal uppercut that snapped the Texas native's head back like a Pez dispenser, then won the final round on all three scorecards to close the gap even more, but it wasn't enough to change the outcome.
“I don’t really remember the fight,” Figueroa said. “I just go out there and perform. I was tired, too, I was throwing so many punches. He just got me with a good shot, a good body shot, too. He just had a little rally going.”
Figueroa looked the part after the fight, with a marked-up face and two puffy cheeks that had him headed to the hospital to get looked at, although he was speaking clearly after the bout.
“I could feel my face swelling up,” he said. “But it started happening as soon as the first or second round, so I knew it would be an issue. I knew that I would win the fight because I would keep throwing a lot of punches and I would land a lot more than he did.”
The math checks out. Figueroa connected on 414 punches to DeMarco’s 225, including 335 power shots.
Figueroa weighed in at a career-high 151 pounds for the bout, but the former 135-pound champion said afterward that he was determined to keep campaigning at 140 pounds. First thing’s first, though. There’s a holiday to get through before camp comes back into the picture.
“We’re going to wait till I’m all healed up,” he said. “I’m going to spend the holidays with my family and we’ll go from there.”
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Omar Figueroa Jr., right, used a high-volume attack to dominate the early rounds and hold off Antonio DeMarco late to win a unanimous decision Saturday night in San Antonio. (Suzanne Teresa/Premier Boxing Champions)
