Stephen Fulton beats Brandon Figueroa in the Fight of the Year nominees, unifying the 122-pound title

Stephen Fulton claimed his second super bantamweight title Saturday night in a thriller with Brandon Figueroa. The Philadelphia native took the WBC belt in addition to the WBO title with a decisive majority win from Las Vegas, which could turn out to be one of the best matches of 2021.

Fulton (20-0.8 KOs) is said to have dropped cleaner, sharper punches ahead of incoming Hurricane Figueroa (22-1-1, 17 KOs) during Saturday’s Showtime Boxing main event with The judges gave him a slight nod with scores of 114-114, 116-112 and 116-112. Fulton regularly finds home for his left hook and inside the top lane but is sometimes overwhelmed by Figueroa’s relentless pursuit for an airfight. The result was a memorable, fan-friendly round of applause for a fight that is sure to be marked on every man’s résumé.

Generally the more successful fighter on the outside, Fulton also comes prepared to engage Figueroa closely. The battle over the contacts resulted in a split, but both men deserve credit. Figueroa defiantly pursued her damage. Fulton is well equipped to fight anywhere and everywhere. Figueroa does 314 out of 1,060 punches well with 29% accuracy, according to ShoStats. Fulton was a 37% more effective landing puncher out of 726 punches.

Fulton praised his enemies after their battle; However, that didn’t stop the temper tantrums from boiling over.

“You really think you won the war?” Figueroa asked her opponent, interrupting the unified champion’s post-match interview. “I’ve hurt you five or six times. Everyone here knows who won the war.”

“We could do it again,” Fulton replied. “Let’s run it back.”

“Do it. I’m not afraid of you,” said Figueroa.

The undefeated champion insisted it was “a good match” and “a tight fight”, but Figueroa insisted the referees had caused “the biggest heist of the year.”