PHOTOS: Reliving Stephen Fulton’s Thrilling Battle with Brandon Figueroa

Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa went to war on Saturday (Photo: Esther Lin – SHOWTIME)

By Chris Robinson

This past Saturday night, from Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas, NV, Stephen Fulton narrowly defeated fellow champion Brandon Figueroa via hotly contested split decision. The fight air lived on SHOWTIME as the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions telecast.

Fulton (20-0, 8 KO’s) and Figueroa (22-1-1, 17 KO’s) put on a memorable display over 12 rounds, throwing over 1,700 punches according to CompuBox. Scores of 116-112 twice and 114-114 saw Fulton, from Philadelphia, capture the victory to add the WBC junior featherweight title next to the WBO title he won in his previous contest.

This is one of those fights that lived up to the hype yet was also very hard to score due to the ebb and flow of the action. Fulton had the edge in accuracy, while Figueroa was the busier fighter.

Each man had their share of moments, and Fulton,27, believes it was his counterpunching that played a key role.

“I was catching him in between every shot he was throwing,” said Fulton. “He was making it sloppy and rough. It was an amazing experience. The judges made their decision, and we can run it back.”

Figueroa, 24, obviously disagreed with the decision.

“I hurt him like five or six times,” said Figueroa. “I put the pressure on for the whole 12 rounds, landed the cleaner shots and hurt him. I thought I only lost four rounds at the most. It was the robbery of the year. The fans who watched this live know who won. I always come to fight, and I did that all night.”

This is the kind of fight that we would all love to see again, but who knows where each man goes from here.