Boxing News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

PictureGroup

Brandon Figueroa vs. Stephen Fulton Jr. 2: Who Wins?

Originally posted on Fights Around The World
By Abraham Gonzalez | Last updated Jan 31, 2025 3:47 PM ET

Aside from the main event on Saturday night between David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) & David Morrell Jr. (11-0, 9 KOs), the co-main features two familiar faces that look to mix it up again after facing each other once before in 2021. WBC featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) will defend his title against former unified super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton Jr. (22-1, 8 KOs). This fight is a great appetizer to the main event entrée but could also steal the show from the Benavidez-Morrell.

Can Brandon Figueroa Put The Past Behind Him With A Win on Saturday Night?

The 28-year-old Figueroa from Weslaco, TX, still has the looks of an 18-year-old, but when he steps through those ropes, Figueroa is one of the toughest fighters to compete against. Figueroa climbed the super-bantamweight ranks and became a WBC champion in 2021 as he scored a seventh-round TKO over Luis Nery. While most fighters would choose to fight an easier opponent for their first title defense, Figueroa went straight into a unification six months later against Fulton, who had the WBO title at the time.

The night Figueroa and Fulton met in the middle of the ring, the fans and media knew they were in for a real treat as their styles made for a good fight. We witnessed a high-level, competitive fight that could have been scored for either fighter, but two of the judges scored it for Fulton (116-112 x 2), while the third called it an even fight (114-114). Figueroa was obviously upset as he earned the first loss of his career and demanded that the rematch happen right away, but things didn’t work out that way.

Instead, Figueroa ended up moving up to featherweight in July 2022 and would pick up three consecutive wins against Carlos Castro, Mark Magsayo & Jesse Magdaleno. The victory over Magdaleno in May 2024 earned him the interim WBC featherweight title, but after making Rey Vargas the champion in recess, the WBC made Figueroa the full champion. Once that happened, the rematch with Fulton presented itself and on Saturday, Figueroa has the opportunity to right the wrong from 2021.

How does he win on Saturday night? Figueroa has to do what he does best and that’s apply a ton of pressure from the start of the fight. He has to cut off the ring and not follow Fulton around. Figueroa must dedicate his offense to the body right from the beginning of the fight and use a jab to make his way inside instead of using his head. Figueroa may have been intimidated by Fulton’s speed in the first fight but he should already be passed and will have to rely on his experience and Ring IQ to get him the victory.

Does Stephen Fulton Jr. Still Have The Eye of the Tiger?

When fighters aren’t as active as they should be, fans tend to forget how old these fighters are, as time seems to go by twice as fast when you are not active. Fulton is now 30 years old, and inactivity is the word that describes his career over the last few years. After defeating Figueroa in 2021, Fulton has only fought once a year, which was a unanimous decision over Daniel Roman in 2022, a knockout loss to Naoya Inoue in 2023, and a split decision win over Carlos Castro in September. After earning a career-high payday against Inoue in Japan, there were rumors that Fulton’s desire to continue fighting just wasn’t there. Some of that showed up in the Castro fight as he was knocked down and barely squeezed out a decision over a fighter he should have dominated.

Fulton is a great fighter, but there are questions about whether he is still the fighter that beat Figueroa in 2021 or has the career-high payday and lack of activity turned him into a fighter a level or two lower than what he once was at super bantamweight? Fulton has many questions to answer and there is nothing like this rematch with Figueroa for him to get motivated and put on the type of performance that silences the critics.

To win this fight, Fulton needs to be smart, pick his spots and use his legs to create space between him and Figueroa. When Fulton is on his A-game, there aren’t too many fighters who can touch him unless you are an elite fighter like Inoue. If Fulton can get Figueroa to chase him around the ring while only committing to inside fighting for small doses, he can easily pull out a decision. But does Fulton have the legs at 30 while being inactive to execute that type of game plan? We are a little over 24 hours before we find out.

BRANDON FIGUEROA VS STEPHEN FULTON JR. PREDICTION

This is going to be a close fight just like their first one but Figueroa will end up getting the 115-113 decision over Fulton. Figueroa by majority decision leading to a potential third fight later this year.