Brandon Figueroa gave up his best leverage for a massive payday against Naoya Inoue on Friday, surrendering his WBA title on the scale ahead of Saturday’s matchup with Tomoki Kameda in Las Vegas.

Figueroa weighed in at 127.4 pounds, missing the featherweight mark by 1.4 pounds. A victory over Kameda will not change his status; he exits the ring beltless, stripping away the primary bait he possessed to lure Inoue up to 126 pounds.

The entire draw for Naoya Inoue to face Figueroa was immediate division hardware. Inoue wants belts as soon as he steps foot at 126, and Figueroa holding the WBA strap was the ticket to make that happen.

Without a title to dangle, Figueroa is just an oversized, high-output nightmare matchup with no championship reward attached. Inoue’s side has zero reason to volunteer for that when they can easily target Rafael Espinoza or Angelo Leo and walk away with a recognized belt.

Chris Mannix reports that Kameda made weight and can claim the championship with a victory. If Figueroa wins, the title stays vacant.

Beyond losing the strap, the weight miss creates an immediate red flag for Inoue’s team. Figueroa is 5’9″ and has been draining himself for years to stay down in the lighter classes. If he cannot make 126 cleanly against Kameda, why would Inoue negotiate a massive featherweight bout only to risk Figueroa blowing the scale by two or three pounds and forcing a catchweight debacle? That trust is gone.

Team Inoue can bypass him entirely for an actual beltholder. While Figueroa retains respect for his aggressive style, the championship was the key card ensuring priority treatment.

As for Kameda, Figueroa should have enough in the tank to overwhelm a 35-year-old veteran on sheer work rate and physical pressure, but the hamstring issue Figueroa dealt with in camp makes Saturday trickier than it looked on paper. If that injury compromised his roadwork and directly caused this weight disaster, Kameda might walk into a much more competitive night than expected.