Philadelphia's Stephen Fulton envisions becoming a champion along with his Eagles
Jan 30, 2025 • 11:00 PM ET
LAS VEGAS – Stephen Fulton can barely stand to consider the topic, admitting he can’t stop thinking about it.
The former super-bantamweight champion from Philadelphia may be on the brink of regaining a belt in his Saturday night rematch with Texas’ WBC featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa.
And one week later his beloved Philadelphia Eagles can avenge their 2023 Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and collect their second Vince Lombardi Trophy in team history.
“That’s motivating me because I can become a world champion at the same time they become world champions,” Fulton said Wednesday following his public workout for the Figueroa bout at MGM Grand.
“It’s something that’s really on my mind, but I don’t want it to get to me. I’ve got to get this belt.
“I’m looking forward to being a world champion again and they [the Eagles] want to be world champions again. If we do it, the whole city is full of champions.”
The 30-year-old Fulton, 22-1 (8 KOs), reigned as a unified 122-pound champion by virtue of his November 2021 majority decision victory over Figueroa, 25-1-1 (19 KOs), but later surrendered the belts to unbeaten undisputed super-bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue in 2023.
Fulton returned unimpressively in September, escaping with a disputed split-decision triumph over Carlos Castro after getting knocked down.
“I had some ups and downs. All of it was worth it,” Fulton said. “When I win this, I want to embrace that moment.”
In this Figueroa rematch for the WBC belt, Fulton explained, “I just have to be way smarter this time – use my intelligence, use my jab, use my speed, use my experience. He’s already said he’s not looking for it to go the distance. That tells me how to fight you.”
Their first bout was narrow, and a reporter noted to Fulton that no opponent has ever hurt Figueroa.
“Y’all have never seen him hurt physically, but you’ve seen him hurt emotionally and that’s a deeper hurt,” Fulton said. “He lost. And he was hurt by that loss from me. That’s more powerful than implementing pain on someone.”
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
