Stephen Fulton claims jr. featherweight title in brutal slugfest with Angelo Leo

Aleem batters Pasillas for interim 122 belt; Romero stops Sparrow

As badly as Stephen Fulton felt this past summer, physically and mentally, after coming down with Covid-19 days before he was supposed to challenge for the vacant WBO junior featherweight title it was all worth it in the end.

While Fulton missed his summer chance to fight for the 122-pound belt and watched as Angelo Leo outpointed replacement opponent Tramaine Williams to win it on Aug. 1, he was promised the first shot at Leo.

Fulton got that opportunity and took full advantage of it, beating Leo at his own game to win the title by unanimous decision in a grinding, brutal slugfest in the main event of the first “Showtime Championship Boxing” card of 2021 on Saturday night inside the bubble of the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

The judges scored it 119-109, 119-109 and 118-110, wide scores that didn’t illustrate how enthralling, violent and competitive the toe-to-toe slugfest was.

The fight was expected to match Fulton’s more skillful boxing from the outside with Leo’s relentless pressure and body punching. Instead Fulton, in his first fight in almost one year to the day since his last one, stood shoulder to shoulder and chest to chest with Leo for virtually the entire fight and banged it out with him on the inside.

They ripped each other with body shots and uppercuts and spent so much time battling in the trenches it looked as if they were glued together.

“The bully gets bullied. That always happens. I’m the new (champion),” Fulton said. “The game plan was to box at first but when I got in there I made a couple of mistakes and he was landing the right hand cleanly a little bit. I had to get a little dirty and fight his fight and show him that I’m the better man at his style.

“I just flipped the script a little bit and I knew I had to make it a dog fight or continue to bang with him. That’s what I did.”

According to CompuBox punch statistics, Fulton landed 364 of 1,183 shots (31 percent) and Leo connected with 262 of 810 (32 percent). Of Leo’s landed blows, 142 were to the body. Fulton's 913 thrown power punches and the 1,601 combined power shots thrown are both the third-most in the history of all junior featherweight bouts CompuBox has tracked in its 36-year history.

The fight began at a quick pace and never let up, leaving referee David Fields merely as an observer with little to do.

Leo (20-1, 9 KOs), 26, an Albuquerque, New Mexico, native fighting out of Las Vegas, emerged from the rough-and-tumble first round with a cut over his left eye from an accidental head butt and although it bled steadily throughout the bout – eventually covering Fulton’s back with blood because of the non-stop infighting – it did not seem to impair Leo.

They went back and forth in the fourth round, mostly fighting on the inside, although Fulton landed the best shot of the round, a right uppercut that rocked Leo. In the fifth round it was more of the same as they leaned head to shoulder and pounded each other to the body for most of the round.

But it was around that part of the fight that even though Leo remained competitive, Fulton (19-0, 8 KOs), 26, of Philadelphia, appeared to take control.

“That’s when I seen he started breathing a little heavy,” Fulton said. “I wore him down by attacking his body and pushing him back. I had to change the whole narrative, push him back and dropping those uppercuts in. That’s how I got the job done.

“From like the fifth round, that’s when I knew I was going to take off. I never got tired from engaging. This fight I was prepared and I knew that’s what I came to do. So by the fifth, I knew I was taking the fight away from him.”

When they weren’t battling on the inside, Fulton’s left jab was a powerful weapon as was his uppercut, one which rocked Leo late in the sixth round.

After the 10th round, Miguel Leo, Angelo’s father and trainer, told his son he was losing and needed a knockout. And just before the 12th round began he told his son again, “The only way you're going to win this is if you knock him out."

The Floyd Mayweather-promoted Leo, who was taken to the hospital after the fight as a precaution, couldn’t deliver as Fulton kept him on the outside for much of the final round, believing he had clearly done enough to make his title dreams come true.

“(Leo is) a tough fighter, he’s a good kid, a good person and I take my hat off to him,” Fulton said. “He showed up but I was the better man. I met his promoter Floyd at the (Wilder-Fury rematch last February) and he said he didn’t know me but I bet he knows me now.”

Aleem knocks out Pasillas

Ra’eese Aleem lived up to his nickname of “The Beast” as he scored four knockdowns in a one-sided 11th-round knockout victory over Victor Pasillas to win a vacant interim junior featherweight title.

Aleem (18-0, 12 KOs), 30, of Las Vegas by way of Muskegon, Michigan, notched his seventh knockout in a row and did so in impressive fashion. He landed many quick lead left hands, moved in and out, worked the body and had Pasillas off balance and tentative throughout the bout.

“I was dominant. I wanted to put an exclamation point with this performance,” Aleem said. “It feels absolutely amazing. It just confirms what I knew in my head, that I have elite power. He’s one of the top fighters in the division so to knock him out, it means I’m a true threat. I think a lot of people were sleeping on me and my power. I wasn’t surprised that I stopped him. I didn’t think he’d be able to go the distance with me. I think a lot of the fighters in this division should really be on notice.

“I wanted to knock him out. But I wasn’t necessarily trying to go for the knockout early. I was just seeing the openings and everything came together.”

Aleem had a huge second round, scoring a hard knockdown with a right hand that put Pasillas on his rear end with about a minute left. Aleem kept up the attack and battered Pasillas late in the round.

Early in the sixth round, Aleem landed two left hands that dropped Pasillas to his rear end again. Pasillas complained that the second shot was behind the head but it appeared to be a borderline shot on video replays.

Aleem let his punches flow in a one-sided seventh round and appeared close to getting the stoppage but referee Danny Schiavone let the fight continue.

Pasillas (16-1, 9 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Redwood City, California, had a better eighth round than any other round of the fight and then tagged Aleem with a couple of solid shots early in the ninth. But Aleem responded with a left hook to the head for another knockdown.

In the 11th round, Aleem finished the fading Pasillas, who went past the sixth round for the first time. He landed a clean right hand that badly rocked him followed by a left hook to the head that dropped him for the fourth time, and Schiavone immediately stopped the fight at 1 minute.

Aleem was way ahead on all three scorecards: 100-87, 99-88 and 98-89. According to CompuBox, Aleem landed 185 of 561 punches (33 percent) – including 64 body shots – and Pasillas landed 143 of 651 shots (22 percent). Aleem outlanded Pasillas in 10 of the 11 rounds.

Aleem made it clean he wants a top opponent next.

“I’m ready to fight any world champion,” Aleem said. “Whether it’s the winner of Leo-Fulton or if (unified titlist) Murodjon Akhmadaliev wants to come out of hiding. Any current world champion that’s willing to fight, I’m ready. I’ve got the pen, send the contract. Whether that’s Brandon Figueroa, Akhmadaliev – he has two of the belts and is a tremendous fighter. He hasn’t defended his belts yet. Any one of those fights would be a great fight.”

Romero dominates Sparrow

Interim lightweight titlist Rolando Romero dominated Philadelphia’s Avery Sparrow in a seventh-round knockout of their nontitle bout that opened the telecast.

Romero (13-0, 11 KOs), 25, of Las Vegas, was supposed to defend his 135-pound belt for the first time against Justin Pauldo (14-1, 7 KOs), 26, of Orlando, Florida. But while Romero was on weight, Pauldo was 138.5 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in, way over the division limit, and was later ruled out of the fight due to medical concerns. Sparrow (10-3, 3 KOs), 27, who was on site as the standby opponent if needed, stepped in, although he was 136 pounds for what became a nontitle bout.

“I was very disappointed; I really wanted to fight Justin Pauldo. But things happen – at least I had another opponent,” Romero said.

Romero dominated Sparrow. He was aggressive, landed combinations and forced Sparrow to back up and hold. He connected with a solid left hook that dropped Sparrow in the opening round.

Sparrow continually tried to hold and was warned for it. When he held again in the fourth round, referee Johnny Callas admonished him again and told him the next time he did it he would lose a point.

Callas warned him for holding and hitting in the sixth round, but did not dock him a point, but later in the round Callas docked him two points for an intentional low blow.

“I fought a dirty fighter. He hit me with a dozen, if not more, low blows, back of the head, trying to wrestle but it is what it is. I got the victory,” Romero said. “I dropped him with that hook in the opening round. I thought it would be over but he’s slick – he knows how to survive.”

As Romero continued to do as he pleased, Sparrow’s corner threw in the towel and Callas waved it off at 43 seconds of the seventh round. Romero was ahead 60-51 on all three cards at the time of the stoppage.

“I came over here, did my job, stopped my opponent and I’m happy with my victory,” Romero said. “I want to fight the best, that’s what I want to do.”

How dominant was Romero? He outlanded Sparrow 115-40 in total punches, including 86-30 in power shots, according to CompuBox.

Romero turned in a far better performance against Sparrow than he did in his last fight on Aug. 15, when he won the vacant interim belt by very controversial decision over Jackson Marinez.

“The person that fought Jackson Marinez wasn’t me. I had a bad camp, I didn’t do the things I was supposed to do,” Romero said. “The big part, he fought scared and made it very difficult. Marinez was supposed to rematch me. He decided not to even though we offered more money.

“With Sparrow, he fought like a coward. He just wanted a street-fight because he knows he wasn’t going to do anything to me. It came to low blows, hitting behind the head. His corner did the right thing by stopping it. In that last moment before they stopped the fight, he was hurt again and there was a lot of time left in the round. He’s lucky they stopped it. You guys said you want to see me box and you saw me box. At the end, his corner quit and he fought like a coward. I boxed good. I thought I had him out in the first but he’s really good at surviving.”

Photos: Amanda Westcott/Showtime