By Jake Donovan

HIDALGO

--Omar Figueroa fended off a brave stand from visiting challenger Ricky Burns to take a unanimous decision in their CBS-televised headliner Saturday afternoon at State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. 

Scores were 116-110 (twice) and 117-109, indicative that judges Don Griffin, Cathy Leonard and Nelson Vazquez all missed a hell of a fight. 

Long before his fate was decided by your garden variety Texas officiating, Burns was able to jump out to a strong start. The former 130 lb. and 135 lb. titlist was believed to be on his last legs after back-to-back losses to Terence Crawford and Dejan Zlaticanin last year, but appeared reborn in the early going of his stateside debut. 

The first sign of Burns' eventual uphill battle with the officials came late in round three. Oft-criticized referee Laurence Cole - far too intrusive over the course of the bout - issued a warning to Burns for excessive holding, going as far as to grab Burns' arm while the two fighters were infighting and a clinch hadn't taken place. 

Figueroa managed to turn the tide late in the round, scoring with uppercuts and right hands along the ropes, his best moment of the fight to that point. Burns withstood the blows and never wilted at any point in the fight. 

However, allowing Figueroa back into the fight was his undoing. The unbeaten local favorite from nearby Weslaco continued to fight the only way he knows how - come forward and all action. Burns often returned the favor, even if if not necessarily winning the exchanges. 

After a solid stretch from Figueroa, momentum swung back in Burns' favor at the midway mark. With the infighting also came holding and clinching, for which Burns was docked one point in round eight. The deduction would have been more understandable had Figueroa drawn similar warnings from Cole - who is based out of Texas and who always seems to land in these predicaments. 

Fatigue appeared to get the best of Figueroa, who struggled to maintain pace in the latter stages of the fight. Burns never took his foot off of the gas, well aware of his surrounding and what it would take to pull out victory. The former lightweight titlist was on the opposite end at the tail end of his title run, surviving several controversial moments in a reign that was on borrowed time before eventually losing to Crawford last March. 

This time, he was on the receiving end, as a competitive fight instead became better known for the action of the officials. Burns lost another point in round 11, a deduction that proved twice as damaging as it was also Figueroa's best round in quite a while. 

Both fighters emptied whatever was left in their proverbial gas tanks in the 12th and final round, but it turned out that both fighters could've stood in their corners for the last three minutes and not at all impact the scores. 

Ignoring the horrific officiating from both sides of the ropes, the all-action fight proved a fitting headliner on a free-to-air Saturday afternoon broadcast on CBS. 

What it didn't represent was an indication that Figueroa is ready for the best in a loaded 140 lb. division. The 25-year old remains unbeaten in advancing to 25-0-1 (18KOs), in what served as his official junior welterweight debut following a year-long stint as a lightweight titlist.

His final fight at 135 lbs. came last August, stopping Daniel Estrada in nine rounds before deciding he could no longer make the weight. For the moment, he has yet to prove he can make 140 lbs., after showing up more than a pound over the limit at Friday's weigh-in. 

Burns agreed to move forward with the fight, coming up short in his stateside debut. The loss sends his record to 37-5-1 (11KOs), including a 1-3-1 stretch over his past five starts. 

Despite the loss, the performance was his best showing since his 4th round stoppage of Kevin Mitchell way back in Sept. '12. It's been a rough time in office since then, with his consecutive losses in 2014 leading his team to suggest the rest of his career should be spent on the domestic level.

His brave showing versus Figueroa should earn Burns at least one more big fight before heading off into the sunset. Figueroa still needs to show he can hang at junior welterweight, although the unbeaten Texan figures to be a prominent showpiece in the Premier Boxing Champions series. 

He'll just need stronger future showings in the ring - and less help from the officials - to prove his worth in a new weight class. 

In the televised co-feature, Jamie McDonnell enjoyed a successful stateside debut in taking a shocking decision win over previously unbeaten Tomoki Kameda. 

Scores were 114-113 across the board in a bout that saw McDonnell dropped in round three, but bravely battle back to retain his secondary version of a bantamweight title. A full recap can be found here. 

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox