For the second straight fight, Stephen Fulton has again broken Brandon Figueroa’s heart.
Fulton became a two-division champion on Saturday night after defeating Figueroa by unanimous decision to lift the WBC featherweight title. It was sweet vindication for the 30-year-old from Philadelphia, who was as much as a 2-1 underdog heading into the fight, despite having beaten Figueroa the first time around in 2021, when they unified two of the 122lbs titles in a thriller.
Part of the reason Fulton was an underdog is because of his recent record, where he had been dropped in a split decision win over Carlos Castro in his previous bout and was stopped by Naoya Inoue in the fight before that.
Whatever the reason, Fulton expressed his gratitude for the motivation.
“It feels good,” said Fulton, 23-1 (8 KOs) after the fight. “I’m a champion again and for everyone who doubted me, just keep supporting me how you’ve been supporting me, whether it’s negative or positive.”
Figueroa, 25-2-1 (19 KOs), was fighting for the first time since knocking out Jessie Magdaleno last May, and fought at a much more measured pace than he did in their first fight, landing just five more punches over 12 rounds (143) than he had in the first six rounds of their first fight. Fulton, who was fighting for the second time under head trainer Derek “Bozy” Ennis, the father of IBF welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis, landed 214 total punches.
“I feel like he didn’t let enough shots go like he normally would,” said Fulton, who went viral for his ring attire, wearing trunks that looked like jean shorts and boxing shoes that looked like Timberland boots.
“I think he slowed down in this division. His punch output was down from our first fight. I capitalized off of that, used my jab and listened to my corner. His power wasn’t anything different from the first fight.”
All four judges scored the first four rounds for Fulton, with the two splitting the next eight rounds on two of the scorecards to arrive at a 116-112 score. The third judge had it 117-111. Only two of the rounds – the fifth and ninth – were scored unanimously for Figueroa.
“He won fair and square,” said Figueroa. “I’d love to fight him again, but right now I just have to go back to the drawing board and get the next one.”
As for Fulton, there are plenty of options to explore, including unifications with the likes of Rafael Espinoza (WBO), Angelo Leo (IBF) or Nick Ball (WBA), or a defense against No. 1 contender Bruce Carrington, who was in attendance at the fights.
“I’m just gonna enjoy the victory and live in the moment,” said Fulton. “Then we’ll weigh our options.”
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
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