Professional boxing WBC/WBO world super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton (USA, 28) will face former WBA/WBC class champion Brandon Figueroa (USA, 26) on February 25, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Several international media reported.
Possibility of promotion to the regular championship match
The two fought in the WBC/WBO world super bantamweight championship unification match held in November 2001, and WBO champion Fulton won by decision and succeeded in unifying the throne. The rematch for the first time in about 1 year and 3 months is expected to be the WBC World Featherweight interim championship match, one class higher.
Rey Vargas (Mexico, 32), who currently holds the WBC World Featherweight Championship, will participate in the WBC World Super Featherweight Championship on February 11th. It’s unclear when Vargas will relinquish the featherweight title, but if he does, Fulton vs. Figueroa will most likely be the regular title fight.
The super bantamweight title held by Fulton is targeted by Naoya Inoue (Ohashi, 29), the unified champion of the four world bantamweight divisions, and Fulton’s trends are attracting attention.
If February’s bout is promoted to the WBC World Featherweight Title Match and Fulton wins Figueroa, he could remain in the featherweight division as the world champion. If Fulton moves up the weight class, he will give up the WBC and WBO world super bantamweight titles, leaving two titles vacant.
If he vacates the throne, he may miss the big match with Inoue…
On January 11, BOXING NEWS 24 (WEB version), a media specializing in boxing in the United States, reported that Fulton will have a WBC World Featherweight interim championship match against Figueroa in February, and the outlook for the future super bantamweight front. Mentioned.
The media explained that if Fulton wins the featherweight title and gives up the super bantamweight title, he will miss the big match with Inoue, who can expect attractive fight money.
On the other hand, it was pointed out that Fulton could avoid the possibility of defeat by relinquishing the super bantamweight title. He said that if he stayed at super bantamweight and faced Inoue, it was very likely that he would be knocked out by KO artist “Monster”. Fulton boasts a record of 21 wins (8 KOs) so far.
In December 2010, Inoue faced the WBO world bantamweight champion Paul Butler (UK, 34), and won 11 times by KO to achieve his long-cherished desire to unify all four teams. He has declared that he will raise the class and aim for the world in the super bantamweight division.
