With great simplicity and humility, the World Boxing Association 122-pound world champion, Brandon Figueroa, recounts moments from a childhood when he had to work hard to prove he was made for boxing.

Brandon grew up with Omar Jr., the older brother who has been a natural at the ring. When the little boy with the oceanic blue eyes was six years old, he was constantly trying to catch Omar Sr.’s eye, who didn’t think he could make it in boxing because he considered him to be more fragile due to his physical build, since Brandon was really skinny back then. Also, because of his pretty face, he was often pushed to the runways or to acting.

That underestimation led Brandon to make double efforts until his father trusted him and realized that he did have the strength and courage to box, as he demonstrated in that great show he gave against Mexican Julio Cejas in Las Vegas in November 2019.

Brandon Lee Figueroa is 23 years old and has earned the nickname of “heartbreaker”, which apparently had something to do with his amateur stage when his female followers would gather in the events he performed, but he tells us that in reality: “My dad heard that nickname and gave it to me for my looks, that’s how it got it. I know it doesn’t sound very intimidating but inside the ring I can be”.

He was born in Weslaco, Texas: “My parents are Mexican, they grew up in Rio Bravo here at the border and I grew up there too. My first language was Spanish, I didn’t learn English until third grade and since then they have seen me more American than Mexican, but I think my roots make me more Mexican”. He tried to be part of an Olympic Games but since his record as an amateur did not accompany him, he decided to jump to jump to the proffesional field. At 18 years old, he achieved the goal of becoming world champion.

Being with the family, with friends, and spending time at home playing video games, are part of the Heartbreaker’s favorite things to do, who also forms a great professional team with his family: “My sister takes care of my meals, she studied to be a nutritionist and trains me in the mornings since she knows the physical workouts that a boxer must do, she is also a personal trainer. My brother is my mentor, my idol, he helped me quite a lot mentally in how to cope with many things and he taught me the lifestyle of a boxer”.

In addition to boxing, Brandon and his sister are developing a noble project: “I want to invest my money in a gym here where I live, for my community, and to be able to help the children of the Valley, because boxing has helped me in many ways. I went to a school to talk to the children where maybe they don’t have the best education, or they don’t follow the good paths and they are in trouble, so I would like to be able to help. First, it will be for the children to have toys for Christmas, for example, so that they don’t have to go through a window and not be able to have those toys that they want, like it happened to me when I was a child. We’ll also be doing events for them”.

Brandon adds with excitement, “As a trainer I want to help others follow their dreams. I know that boxing is not for everybody but it can be helpful for health, to take things off your mind, to keep you out of danger, because kids will be able to come and train and get rid of the negative things, the bad things. For me, boxing was more like therapy, like an escape. I want to teach children that they can do it. I’ve been dreaming big since I was little and now, I’m living my dreams”, and as a good dreamer, imagine how exciting it is to be part of a movie.

The World Boxing Association 122-pound champion left a great inspiring message and said that “when I won the title last year I was very happy and thankful because without God, without my team, without my family, I wouldn’t have been able to make it. But as my dad says, the hardest thing is to keep it up and now I just think about continuing to work hard to keep myself ready for any opportunity”.

Omar Jr. Figueroa stood out among the lightweights, a sister as a personal trainer who was also an amateur boxer, a father who is also a trainer, and a mother who was also involved in boxing. How could they not feel passionate about this sport!