Stephen Fulton entered the ring as an underdog for his rematch with Brandon Figueroa on Saturday but was impressive in capturing a victory. Fulton outworked Figueroa over 12 rounds to take a unanimous decision win and capture the WBC featherweight championship, capturing a world championship in the second division of his career.
Fulton won the 2021 meeting between the two, a Fight of the Year contender, and looked impressive in the rematch. As expected, Figueroa applied heaps of pressure throughout the fight but Fulton was prepared to handle it and constantly let his hands go with hard uppercuts and right hand counters that kept Figueroa from ever getting comfortable.
Despite near-constant booing from the crowd, the fight was filled with meaningful action, mostly from the brilliant counter punching of Fulton.
At the conclusion of 12 rounds of action, Fulton was announced as the victory, taking scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 117-111 from the official ringside judges.
The win was huge for Fulton, who lost the WBO and WBC junior featherweight championships when he was blasted out in the eighth round by a dominant Naoya Inoue in July 2023. Fulton rebounded from the loss with an uninspiring performance against Carlos Castro this past September. Fulton hit the canvas at one point against Castro before ultimately taking a 10-round split decision win.
Now, Fulton has reaffirmed his status as a world championship-level boxer and has put a rival behind him. Whether that success continues into the future will be seen when he steps into the ring to make the first defense of his newly-won title.
KVSP