'Mr. AC' Gets His Rematch: Justin Figueroa Headlines a Throwback Fight Night as Atlantic City Closes Its Boxing Year

Atlantic City has a long love affair with prizefighting, and on Friday night the old seaside town closes its boxing year in classic style: in a casino showroom, with local fighters, a loud crowd and a hometown favorite at the top of the bill.

Justin Figueroa, the unbeaten Atlantic City native known as "Mr. AC," headlines a seven-fight Boxing Insider card in The Showroom on the third floor of the Tropicana's North Tower, with the first bell at 7 p.m. Eastern. The card streams free on BoxingInsider.com and the Boxing Insider YouTube page, and tickets are sold through Ticketmaster. Promoters billed it as the last boxing show of the year in Atlantic City.

Figueroa (14-0, 11 knockouts) gets a rematch with Luis Caraballo Ramos (8-10-1, 8 knockouts) of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, in an eight-round bout. Their first meeting, on March 7, ended without a winner. The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board ruled it a no contest because of an accidental foul after the two fighters tangled on the ropes and fell, and Caraballo Ramos was taken out on a stretcher as a precaution, Shore Local Newsmagazine reported. The 97.3 ESPN report said it happened at the end of the third round, and Figueroa has said he believes he had his opponent beaten.

Caraballo Ramos, nicknamed "Corazon de Oro," has won all eight of his fights by knockout, so Figueroa cannot afford to get careless. Figueroa, who holds the Junior NABF super welterweight title he won in 2025, will have the crowd firmly on his side.

His story is pure Atlantic City. The 27-year-old graduated from Holy Spirit High School in 2017, where he played football and wrestled, and he once served on the Atlantic City Beach Patrol, according to Shore Local. He originally fought as "Just in Time" before promoter Larry Goldberg suggested a new nickname. "Larry came home to Atlantic City and sold us his dream," Figueroa told the paper.

The co-feature is an eight-round heavyweight bout between the Bronx's George Arias (19-1-1, 7 knockouts) and Joe Jones of Lynchburg, Virginia (16-15-2, 10 knockouts). Arias' only loss in the last six years came in 2023, 97.3 ESPN reported.

Unbeaten Yonkers super featherweight Iman Lee (15-0-1, 8 knockouts), an NABF champion, makes his Atlantic City debut against Dominican veteran Dannis Aguero Arias (20-6, 17 knockouts). Boxing Insider called Lee one of the best prospects in the Northeast.

New Jersey's John "Body Shot" Leonardo (13-1-1, 6 knockouts) of Manalapan Township, who is 4-0 in Atlantic City and had his return delayed by an injury earlier this year, faces Kevin "El Gallo" Nunez (6-4, 3 knockouts) of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, over eight rounds at 122 pounds. Leonardo is trained by his father, Shore Local noted.

The card also includes JJ Alvarez (11-3-1) of Harlem against Albany's Larry Fryers (13-8-1) at 144 pounds, Brooklyn's Koby Khalil Williams (8-1, 6 knockouts) against Salvatore Di Stefano (4-2) of Palermo, Italy, at 135 pounds, and Pleasantville's Julio Sanchez III (5-1, 3 knockouts) in his first six-round fight against Skyler Bray (3-3-1) of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

Goldberg, a Margate native and 1996 Atlantic City High School graduate who once worked as a beverage server at the Tropicana, has built this series around local talent and local kids. Boxing Insider supports the Atlantic City Police Athletic League programs and gives free tickets to local youth, Shore Local reported. Friday marks his ninth show inside the Tropicana Showroom since 2024.

The room has history. The Tropicana hosted 196 "Tuesday Night Fights" cards promoted by Don Elbaum and Teddy Menas from 1982 to 1986, and boxing returned to the Showroom in May 2024. Goldberg's promotion pitched Friday's show as a nod to that era, and its announcement put it simply: "This is the kind of boxing your grandfather loved".

The big pay-per-views get the headlines, but club shows like this one are where the sport's heart beats. They give young fighters a stage, give a working town a night out and give kids a reason to walk into a gym instead of somewhere worse. When a former lifeguard from the neighborhood can headline in front of his own people, boxing is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

Goldberg has said many of these fighters could move on to bigger shows in 2027. Friday is their chance to earn it, and Figueroa's chance to finally settle the score.