Despite ring rust, Stephen Fulton declares, ‘I’m back and I’m better’

It was not an easy fight for Stephen Fulton in a return from his first career loss and his debut at 126 pounds, but he at least managed to steal a narrow win over Carlos Castro on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Philadelphia’s Fulton, 30, secured a dubious split decision win over Mexico’s 30-year-old Castro on the undercard of a Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga main event at T-Mobile Arena. Judges scored the bout 95-94 for Castro and 93-96 and 94-95 in favor of Fulton.

In a post-fight interview, Fulton (22-1, 8 KOs) said he was proud of his performance after a long layoff.

“I feel stronger,” he said. “I feel better, but this is my first fight back in 14 months. Ring rust is out of the way, and I feel like I did an amazing job.”

A former unified junior featherweight titlist, Fulton has been out of the ring since losing his two 122-pound belts to pound-for-pound great Naoya Inoue in July last year.

Against Castro (30-3, 14 KOs), Fulton moved up to 126 pounds and wound up slugging it out with a hearty veteran. Although Fulton enjoyed his share of bright spots throughout the fight, Castro fought him evenly and dropped him in Round 5 on a sharp counterpunch.

Fulton believes he was able to overcome the knockdown with a great performance in subsequent rounds.

“I feel like it was a tough round, but I came back and I overturned things,” he said. “I kept digging deep, and I kept fighting. My coaches told me to keep the right hand up. That’s all he was looking for – to come back over top. And I made that mistake by not keeping that right hand up. 

“When I came back to fight, I felt like I did good. Shout out to Carlos Castro. He’s a great fighter, a great Mexican warrior.”

Castro, whose recent winning streak ended at three, landed a number of clean shots on Fulton, who was visibly bigger and possibly a tick slower at 126. When asked how much he was affected by ring rust, Fulton said, “I mean, a lot, man. … It’s never like sparring. And sparring is the easy part. But when you get in there with the mace on, no headgear, no nothing.

“You’re under pressure – that’s when it counts. So I think the ring rust played a major part, but I’m back and I’m better.”

Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].