If Figueroa defeats Tomoki Kameda on October 17, however, he will gladly fight Naoya Inoue next. Inoue is the undisputed junior featherweight champ, but the Japanese superstar is just the type of pound-for-pound great Figueroa wants to fight.

Inoue would have to give up his Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 122-pound crowns to compete at featherweight.

Figueroa, who will make his first defense of the WBA 126-pound championship against Kameda, discussed the possibility of facing Inoue during a virtual press conference recently.

“Come October 17th, I’m gonna stamp why I am the best 126-pounder,” he said. “Welcome to the 126-pound division. And I’m more than [willing] to welcome him into it. And I’m not looking past Tomoki. I know he’s a great fighter, a very experienced fighter.

“I’m ready to fight whoever. I wanna fight the best. For me, it’s not necessarily the belts or the championship or the achievements — it’s my resume, who I fought, and I feel like that’s the most important [thing] for me.”

Inoue (33-0, 27 KOs), No. 1 on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list, is expected to remain at 122 for his next fight against an opponent to be determined. The 33-year-old four-division champion could make his long-discussed move up to featherweight, though, at some point in 2027.

The only two losses of Figueroa’s career came against a fellow former junior featherweight and featherweight champ, Stephen Fulton. Inoue stopped Philadelphia’s Fulton (23-2, 8 KOs) in the eighth round in 2023 in Tokyo.

Figueroa, 29, resuscitated his career and made himself a realistic option for Inoue following a one-sided, unanimous-decision defeat to Fulton in their rematch in February 2025.

Figueroa (27-2-1, 20 KOs), a two-division champ from Weslaco, Texas, dropped hometown favorite Nick Ball twice in the 12th round and shockingly knocked him out in their fight for the WBA belt February 7 in Liverpool. Kameda (42-5, 23 KOs) lost a majority decision to IBF champ Angelo Leo (26-1, 12 KOs) in his last fight in May 2025.

DraftKings lists Figueroa, ranked No. 4 among The Ring’s top 10 featherweight contenders for a vacant championship, as a 5-1 favorite to defeat Kameda on a Premier Boxing Champions card two weeks from Saturday at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

DAZN will stream the final three fights of this show worldwide. It will also be broadcast by TNT and truTV in the United States as part of the network’s series, “The Fight,” in partnership with DAZN.

Sebastian Fundora (24-1-1, 16 KOs), of Coachella, California, will defend his WBC 154-pound title against Albania’s Ermal Hadribeaj (23-0-1, 8 KOs) in the main event. Hadribeaj is the mandatory challenger for Fundora’s crown.