Stephen Fulton Jr. won the eagerly-anticipated battle of unbeaten junior-featherweights and earned his first world championship in the process, outpointing Angelo Leo on all three scorecards to dethrone the WBO 122lb champion.
The ringside judges in Uncasville, Conn., had Philadelphia's Fulton (19-0, 8 KOs) winning comfortably, with scores of 119-109 (x2) and 118-110 over 12 championship rounds. Albuquerque's Leo (20-1, 9 KOs) suffered a cut over his left eye in the opening round due to an accidental clash of heads, but it had little bearing on the overall fight.
“It feels good,” said Fulton after the huge win. “I told you that I would engage more in this fight. I boxed a little but I engaged more to show him that I’m better than him at what he does best.
"I’m used to dealing with fighting inside the gym, inside the ring. Everyone I’ve fought tried to bully me. This time I did to them what they try to do to me. And I got the job done.”
The two main eventers threw a combined 1,993 punches between them throughout this absorbing stand-up war. Fulton threw 913 power punches which ranks third all time in the history of the junior-featherweight division.
“I wore him down by attacking his body and pushing him back," Fulton explained. 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.
“After a year off, I feel I did a good job but I could be a lot better, a lot sharper. I want Luis Nery, Brandon Figueroa. I want all the champions. I want to be undisputed.”
Another interesting contest in the same division provided chief support on the night, as Raeese Aleem (18-0, 12 KOs) broke down and stopped Vic Pasillas (16-1, 9 KOs) in the 11th and penultimate round to capture the vacant interim WBA title.
Aleem said after the win: “I feel great. We had a good camp. I was dominant.
"I wanted to put an exclamation point with this performance. 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."