Stephen Fulton climbs off floor to eke out SD win over Carlos Castro

LAS VEGAS – Stephen Fulton said he felt disrespected at being given a spot among the preliminaries rather than on the main pay-per-view card beneath Edgar Berlanga’s challenge of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, but he denied that he had to make an impression to prove his case.

Fulton made an impression anyway, but whether it was a good one or not is unclear: He proved he could be an exciting fighter as well as a slick boxer, and he demonstrated heart and toughness, as well, as he recovered from a fifth-round knockdown to score a razor-thin split decision win over Carlos Castro on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Through two rounds, Fulton, who looked significantly stockier at 126 pounds than he did at junior featherweight, struggled a little to get past the taller Castro’s long, straight punches. But he was landing the cleaner punches early on, including a big overhand right in the second that collided with Castro’s left cheek.

By Round 4, the pace had begun to pick up, as Castro (30-3, 14 KOs) continued to work behind his straight one-twos, while Fulton, atypically, sat down on his punches and launched hard shots that repeatedly rattled Castro’s skull.

The fifth was nearly disastrous for the Philadelphia’s Fulton (22-1, 8 KOs), who landed a right hand and stayed where he was, allowing Castro to shift his body back into position and throw a left jab and straight right to the chin that put Fulton down. Fulton was clearly hurt, and Castro chased him to the ropes, but Fulton was able to slip or block most of the Mexican’s looping shots, when an uppercut might well have found its target and proved definitive.

By the end of the round, Fulton, fighting for the first time since losing to Naoya Inoue in July 2023, had his feet back under him; the sixth and seventh were strong comeback rounds for him, as he repeatedly landed cleanly on Castro’s jaw, both while walking forward and luring Castro onto counters. But he was wobbled again in the eighth and had to bite down to force Castro onto the back foot.

The ninth was fought on largely even terms, although the normally technically proficient Fulton was now throwing his punches wider and with less torque; but in the 10th, Fulton found a second wind, battering a tiring Castro to the head and threatening to score a knockdown of his own.

Castro, however, stayed on his feet and made it to the final bell, but his good work was not quite enough to secure the win. Although judge Lisa Giampa saw him the winner by a score of 95-94, she was overruled by Donald Sutherland and Don Trella, who scored it 96-93 and 95-94, respectively, for Fulton.

Ricardo Salas KO3 Roiman Villa 

The once-promising career of welterweight Roiman Villa, who just two fights ago was mixing it up with Jaron Ennis, finds itself at a crossroads after the Venezuelan was knocked out by Mexico City’s Ricardo Salas in the third round.

Truth be told, Villa (26-3, 24 KOs) has only himself to blame, as he rarely, if ever, showed any discipline and instead seemed determined to try and knock out Salas (20-2-2, 15 KOs) with a power punch from mid-range. After a competitive first round, the end was foreshadowed in the second, after Villa sent Salas reeling into the ropes and then threw himself at his opponent, looking to finish him off. Salas, however, met him punch for punch with his back to the ropes, and even appeared momentarily to stun him with a right hand.

By this stage, both men were swinging and missing with wild punches; Salas, at least, attempted to keep some form and work behind a guard, which proved to be the difference. When Villa backed Salas to the ropes again in Round 3, Salas saw an opening and, with Villa winding up to throw, launched a short straight right that detonated on the tip of Villa’s chin. A pair of follow-up punches landed only glancingly, but Villa was already on his way to the canvas, where he lay while referee Mike Ortega counted him out. Time of the stoppage was 2:06 of the round.

Jonathan Lopez UD Ricky Medina Jr.

Junior lightweight Jonathan “Geo” Lopez used his footwork, slick defense and fast hands to dominate Ricky Medina Jr., scoring a knockdown in the eighth and final round to apply the gloss to a unanimous decision. Scores were 80-71 across the board.

The undefeated Lopez (17-0, 12 KOs) started as he meant to go on, knocking out Medina’s mouthpiece with a jab-left hook combination in the opening frame. By round’s end, Medina was already cut on his right cheek, but he proved determined to fight his way into the contest, trying to find his way inside and turn the boxing match into a close-quarters brawl. Even when he succeeded, however, Medina often found himself beaten to the punch as Lopez landed the faster, sharper, snappier, heavier punches and used his feet to pivot and throw from multiple angles. Lopez used his jab to keep Medina at range whenever possible, and when Medina closed the distance, Lopez either landed a quick combination and stepped to the side or simply tied Medina up.

Still, Medina (15-3, 8 KOs) came forward, but Lopez smartly invested to the body throughout, and in Round 7, a sharp shot to the breadbasket followed by a left hand upstairs clearly stunned San Antonio’s Medina. Then, in the final round, Lopez uncorked a left hand that dropped Medina hard and put the bow on Lopez’s performance.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.