In a very tough and gritty display of inside fighting, unbeaten Stephen “Cool Boy Steph” Fulton (19-0, 8 KOs) outworked and dethroned reigning WBO junior featherweight champion Angelo Leo (20-1, 9 KOs) by twelve round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Both fighters went right at each other from the opening bell and exchanged large volumes of punishment. In the end, judges scored it 118-110, 119-109, 119-109.
“It feels good,” said Fulton following the biggest win of his professional career. “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.
“I wore him down by attacking his body and pushing him back. 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.”
would make perfect sense to immediately negotiate Fulton – Aleem.
Surprisingly, Fulton worked the inside to put Leo on the defensive and to minimize Leo’s stinging right hand. Fulton’s jab was outstanding tonight. Fulton also displayed nice uppercuts as well.
Leo is a tough son of a gun, but he should use his jab more before applying inside pressure and body punching. Leo will learn from this fight, and I look forward to his return to the ring.
Meanwhile, nice job Fulton and go make that money while defending your title.
Not a big fan, but Fulton fought a great fight. Threw a lot of punches for a guy who usually pot shots and tries to look cute. Leo is a tough kid who had no answers.
Two well fought Junior Featherweight bouts last night. Look forward to a Fulton/Aleem, put it on the undercard of a Pay Per View, give these American fighters some exposure.
Fulton looked great. I had him only losing one round. He fought Leo’s fight for 10 rounds on the inside and beat him with uppercuts and body work. In the last two rounds he boxed Leo’s ear’s off. He’s ready for unifying the titles. His trainer Zahir Raheem did a great job.
Aleem looked good winning the interim title. His promoter Marshall Kauffman of Kings Promotions will direct him the right way.
Tank is out of shape….. in shape he’d murder Ivan. This isn’t anything new to see a out of shape fighter not look so good in sparring
Fulton lacks power .. if he had power he would have ended the fight last Saturday much earlier .. both fighters are warriors…but again both lack power… don’t see Fulton being champion too long