IT’S been a tough spell for Philadelphia’s Stephen Fulton. Blasted away by Naoya Inoue. Dropped and forced to work hard by Carlos Castro, many felt his appetite for the fight game had disappeared. Throw in the PBC scheduling, where even the top fighters only appear irregularly, and the road back was littered with obstacles.
Donning work boots and industrial shorts, ‘Scooter’ showed he was ready for some hard graft in his rematch with Brandon Figueroa on the Benavidez-Morrell undercard. However, it was more skill than will that won it for him over 12 rounds. Doubts eliminated?
“It feels good, I’m champion again and for all the ones that doubted me, I want to say continue to support me the way you all support me, whether it’s negative or positive,” he told Brian Campbell post-fight.
In their first meeting, that Fulton by majority decision in 2021, Figueroa piled on the pressure, closed the distance and turned it into a maul. This time, Figueroa stepped off, changed stances frequently and tried to box more. Fulton was surprised that the ‘Heartbreaker’ gave up his natural advantages.
“I feel like he didn’t let enough shots go like he normally would. I feel like he kind of slowed down when he moved up to the 126-pound division. As you can see, his punch output lowered from when he was at 122 and I feel like I capitalised off of that.
“I used my jab. I listened to my corner and I feel like his power was the same [as in their previous bout]. He said he was going to knock me out with power. I feel like everything was the same, though.”
Taking Figueroa’s WBC featherweight title (Brandon was technically the confusing Interim holder) crowned Fulton as a two-weight world champion. While that brings huge benefits, restoring his reputation was as much of a battle while silencing the critics.
“I’m just going to enjoy the victory while I can. I’m living in the moment right now and not to overlook anything,” added the victor, when asked about future moves.
“I’m just going to focus on this and maybe next month we’ll weigh our options, but thank you to Figueroa and his team. Thanks to everybody for coming out.”
