WBC featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) defends against former two-belt unified super bantamweight champ Stephen Fulton (22-1, 18 KOs) in their 12-round rematch this Saturday, February 1st, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Figueroa vs. Fulton 2 is on the undercard of David Benavidez vs. David Morrell and will be shown live on PBC on Prime Video PPV. The event sells for $79.95.
Weight Class Change
The rematch will be four pounds heavier than the first fight at 122, and Figueroa looks stronger since moving up to 126 in 2022 following his narrow loss to Fulton. In three fights Figueroa has had at featherweight, he dominated these fighters:
– Jessie Magdaleno – KO 9
– Mark Magsayo – UD 12: scores 117-109, 117-109 and 118-108
– Carlos Castro: TKO 6
Fulton is a pure boxer and will try every trick in the book to defeat Figueroa. We’ll likely see a lot of clinching, moving, and jabs. He’s got a Mayweather-esque style about him and uses a lot of technical stuff to compensate for his lack of punching power.
Stephen has zero power, and his only way to defeat Figueroa is by decision. Given how good Brandon has looked since his move up to featherweight, it’s a tough ask for Fulton to win on Saturday, apart from getting lucky with the scoring again.
Four years ago, on November 27, 2021, Fulton, 30, edged Figueroa, beating him by a 12-round majority decision in Las Vegas at super bantamweight. The fight could have gone either way, but the judges liked Fulton’s boxing skills better than Figueroa’s more aggressive, harder punches.
A Changed Fulton?
A lot has changed since then. Fulton has visibly aged, been knocked out in eight one-sided rounds by Naoya Inoue on July 25, 2023, and barely scraped by with a 10-round split decision over Carlos Castrol in his last fight on September 14, 2024.
Castro dropped Fulton in the fifth round and repeatedly hurt him. He used holding and moving to escape from being knocked out. The judges were generous to Fulton to give him the win, as Castro looked like he deserved the victory.
Two years earlier, Castro had been knocked out in the sixth round by Brandon Figueroa on July 9, 2022. Styles make fights, but it does mean something when Fulton is struggling against this level of an opponent against Castro after a controversial decision after being knocked out brutally by Inoue a year earlier.
Fulton’s knockout loss to Inoue may have permanently lessened his punch resistance, leaving him vulnerable to getting hurt. That’s terrible news for him going up against a power guy like Figueroa, who hits harder than Castro and won’t tire out like he did in the second half of the fight on Saturday.
That means Fulton must stay on his bike all night, holding as often as possible to try to neutralize Figueroa’s offense. It could be an ugly fight because Fulton lacks the offensive skills to stay in the pocket against Figueroa without getting knocked out.
I see Figueroa as too strong, young, and aggressive for what’s left of Fulton in his career. I don’t see a knockout because Fulton will use his Mayweather-esque tricks to survive, but he’s not going to win with that negative, safety-first style. This fight could put fans to sleep because Fulton will be running from the opening bell, trying not to get knocked out.
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