The first fight between Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa was very close and competitive. This was despite two of the three scorecards reading 116-112 in Fulton’s favor after 12 rounds (a third judge saw it tied at 114-114).
Now, three years after Fulton and Figueroa met in a junior featherweight unification bout. The pair are set to meet in a world title fight at 126. Figueroa was recently elevated from interim WBC title holder to full featherweight champion after Ray Varga. S injured his shoulder. Injured.
Figueroa-Fulton II will take place on the undercard of the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach Jr. pay-per-view on Dec. 14 at the Toyota Center in Houston.
And this time Fulton believes there is no reason. to debate the results
“I feel like I have to do better than I did the first time.” Fulton said in an interview with FightHype.– “I grew past 122 the first time. I should have moved up after fighting him. I stayed. It is what it is. I still beat him. Now come fight him at 126, become a two-time world champion, a three-time world champion.”
Fulton won his first world title in January 2021 with a major decision over Angelo Leo. The Figueroa fight took place 10 months later and Fulton was stuck in the 122-pound weight class for much longer. : He edged former titleholder Daniel Roman in June 2022, then was stopped in the eighth round by Naoya. Inoue in July 2023
Fulton has moved up to featherweight. last month Coming off the canvas for a split decision over Carlos Castro, the victory makes Fulton, 30, from Philadelphia, 22-1 (8 KO).
Figueroa, 27, from Weslaco, Texas, is 25-1-1 (19 KOs). He won his first world title at 122 in May 2021, defeating previously unbeaten Luis Nery. This in seven rounds Then came the loss to Fulton. After that, Figueroa moved up to 126th.
Figueroa’s featherweight debut also came with Castro – and he fared much better than Fulton, scoring a sixth-round TKO over Castro in their July 2022 bout, Figueroa points out. It sees former titleholder Mark Magsayo in March 2023 for the interim WBC belt, then knocking out Jesse Magdaleno in the 9th round this May.
Figueroa Said in an interview that he believes he deserves the nod in November 2021, Fulton predicts his opponents won’t repeat those sentiments in December 2024.
“He felt like he won. His family said he won. I got a clearer, cleaner picture,” Fulton said. “It is what it is. We came back. I don’t want to hear anything else after this.”
David Greisman, who has been covering boxing since 2004, is on Twitter. @FightingWords2 and @United BoxingPod– He is a co-host of United Podcast– David’s bookFighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing” Available on Amazon
