Fulton edges Figueroa in all-out slugfest to unify junior featherweight world titles

There was non-stop action in fight of the year contender

Nov 28, 2021

Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa had just fought 12 brutal rounds in an electrifying fight of the year contender on Saturday night but they were not done just yet after the final bell.

After Fulton was declared a majority decision winner to unify his WBO junior featherweight world title with the WBC belt he had taken from Figueroa in the main event of Premier Boxing Champions tripleheader on Showtime at Dolby Live at the Park MGM in Las Vegas, they argued over the outcome when Figueroa crashed Fulton’s post-fight interview with Showtime’s Jim Gray.

Judges Tim Cheatham and Dave Moretti each scored the all-action fight 116-112 for Fulton and judge David Sutherland had it 114-114.

“This was a war. It was a tough fight, he’s a tough person,” Fulton said. At that point, Figueroa interjected: “You really think you won the fight?”

Back and forth they went.

Fulton: “It was a close fight. Yeah, I won.”

Figueroa: “I hurt you like five, six times!”

Fulton: “We can fight again.”

Figueroa: “Everybody here knows who won!”

Fulton: “I won. We can do it again.”

Figueroa: “Let’s do it then. I ain’t scared of him.”

Fulton: “Look at your face! You cut.”

Figueroa: “I hurt you five times!”

It looked like they might come to blows but Gray interceded, adding, “OK guys, fight’s over.”

The fighters stepped back and Fulton, with both belts wrapped around him, said, “We good. Who’s strapped up? It was a close fight.”

Indeed it was as they went back and forth round after round. Figueroa was busier and more aggressive, but Fulton landed at a much higher percentage than his foe.

According to CompuBox, Fulton landed 269 of 726 punches (37 percent) and Figueroa connected with 314 of 1,060 shots (30 percent) in a fight in which their jabs were not a factor and virtually all of their shots were power punches.

“I was catching him in between every shot he was throwing,” Fulton said. “He was making it sloppy and rough and the ref (Russell Mora) kept saying I was hitting him low. But I wasn’t. I was placing my shots.

“He was more active but who was landing cleaner shots? I caught you in the middle of everything you were throwing.”

There were few definitive rounds but the sixth and 10th rounds stood out as round of the year contenders with intense back and forth action, mostly initiated by the relentless Figueroa’s pressure, which forced Fulton, who prefers to box, into a slugfest.

In the sixth round, each fighter landed nothing but power shots with Figueroa connecting on 36 to Fulton’s 34.

Figueroa’s best shot may have been the left hook that seemed to hurt Fulton with a little less than a minute left in the toe-to-toe 10th round. Figueroa landed a few very good lefts in the round, but Fulton came back strong in the 11th and 12th rounds.

Fulton won the 11th and 12th on five of the six scorecards turned in to extend his lead on two scorecards and gain a draw on the third.

Both fighters had sought each other out for their first title defense. Fulton (20-0, 8 KOs), 27, of Philadelphia, rolled to a one-sided decision over then-undefeated Angelo Leo on Jan. 23 to take his WBO 122-pound title. On May 15, Figueroa (22-1-1, 17 KOs), 24, of Weslaco, Texas, knocked out Luis Nery in the seventh round to take the WBC belt, after which Fulton got into the ring to begin the hype for their showdown.

Showtime and PBC had arranged for the Leo-Fulton and Nery-Figueroa winners to meet in a unification fight on Sept. 18, but that date was postponed until Saturday because Figueroa came down with Covid-19.

He showed no issues from having been ill but Fulton was also in top form and now owns two of the belts in the division. Southpaw Murodjon Akhmadaliev (10-0, 7 KOs), 27, of Uzbekistan, owns the WBA and IBF titles, which he defended by one-sided decision against Jose Velasquez on Nov. 19 in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Despite the highly competitive fight, Figueroa sounded like sore loser.

“I put the pressure on for the whole 12 rounds, I landed the cleaner shots and hurt him like five times,” said Figueroa, who said. “I thought I only lost like only four rounds of that fight.

"It probably has to be the biggest robbery of the year. Everybody in here knows who won. The fans who watched this live know who won. Even he knows who won. He just doesn’t want to admit it. I always come to fight and I did that all night.”

Fulton was having none of that.

“I was landing a lot of clean shots,” he said. “He was throwing wild shots that the fans were enjoying, but he was throwing arm punches, back of the head punches. It was an amazing experience. The judges made their decision and we can run it back if there’s any problems.”

While Fulton was open to a rematch and Figueroa initially said he was, when pressed about his interest, he deferred and said he would move up in weight.

Aleem edges Baez

Junior featherweight contender Ra’eese Aleem kept alive his hopes of a title shot against the main event winner with a majority decision win over Eduardo Baez in the co-feature.

Two judges had it for Aleem, 98-92 and 96-94, and one judges had the fight 95-95.

“I'm coming off a long layoff so I was a little bit rusty. I wanted to stop him, but he kept bringing it. I did what I had to do,” said Aleem, who had not fought for 10 months since scoring an 11th-round knockout of Vic Pasillas in January to win the WBA’s vacant interim title.

Aleem (19-0, 12 KOs), 31, of Las Vegas, was stripped of the interim belt in August when the organization terminated all of its interim title recognition.

Baez (19-2-2, 7 KOs), 26, a Mexico native fighting out of Calexico, California, fought through a cut on his forehead that opened in the middle rounds when he and Aleem accidentally clashed heads. Aleem, who switched between right- and left-handed stances and threw many combinations, appeared to have Baez hurt in the ninth round from a right hand.

According to CompuBox, Aleem landed 232 of 808 shots (29 percent), including landing 90 body punches, and Baez landed 111 of 445 (25 percent).

“I'm a dog,” Aleem said. “I grinded it out. I turned southpaw and got caught with some shots, but I hung in there. I can hang with anyone. It doesn't matter who steps in there against me, I'm going to win. He was a tough Mexican fighter, but I got the job done. I want the winner of the main event. They can run but they can't hide.”

Baez said he thought he won.

“I totally feel that I won,” he said. “The judges favored (Aleem), but lesson learned. I will be even more aggressive next time so that I leave no shadow of a doubt for anybody.”

Russell sneaks past Santiago

Bantamweight Gary Antonio Russell edged former world title challenger Alexandro Santiago by majority decision in an action fight in the Showtime opener.

One judge had the fight 95-95, but was overruled by two judges, who each had it 96-94 for Russell (19-0, 12 KOs), 28, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, the younger brother of WBC featherweight world titlist Gary Russell Jr.

“I thought I won the fight and I thought I clearly outboxed him,” Russell said of the close scores. “He was tough and tried to be rugged and aggressive. I had the head butts from my last fight in the back of my mind, so I tried to keep it clean and get my rounds in.”

In Russell’s previous fight against former bantamweight titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez on Aug. 14, an accidental head butt badly hurt Rodriguez in the first round and the fight was declared a no decision because he was unable to continue.

Santiago (24-3-5, 13 KOs), 25, of Mexico — who used to go by the name Alejandro Barrios — gave Russell all he could hand but in the back-and-forth fight, but Russell’s jab and speed proved to be the difference.

Santiago fought better over the second half of the fight but it was not quite enough for two of the judges.

“It was a very close fight,” Santiago said. “I have to press more to get the judges to see the fight in my favor. I saw in the beginning rounds that he was very repetitive. If I was more aggressive in the early rounds, I could have pulled off the win.”

Russell now hopes to follow in his brother’s footsteps by winning a world title.

“I feel like I'm ready for the champions,” Russell said. “I'd love to fight (WBO titlist) John Riel Casimero for his belt. I’m ready for him. I’m at that level. (Other champions Nonito) Donaire, (Naoya) Inoue. I think I’m ready for them all. I know what I bring to the table. People can look at this and say I'm not ready for the next step. But I know what I'm capable of.”

Photos: Esther Lin/Showtime

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Fight Freaks Unite

Fulton edges Figueroa in all-out slugfest to unify junior featherweight world titles

There was non-stop action in fight of the year contender

Aleem edges Baez

Russell sneaks past Santiago

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