MINNEAPOLIS – Eddie Gonzalez scoffed Thursday at Stephen Fulton’s assertion that he has given Daniel Roman an opportunity to fight for his WBC and WBO 122-pound championships.
Roman’s manager and trainer contended that Roman effectively forced Fulton to defend his titles against him Saturday night at The Armory. Roman made concessions to Fulton’s handlers, according to Gonzalez, which enabled Fulton and Roman to reach a deal at the 11th hour in mid-March, when Fulton (20-0, 8 KOs) also seriously considered defending his titles against former WBC champion Luis Nery (32-1, 24 KOs) in this “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event.
“He says he’s giving Danny the opportunity,” Gonzalez told BoxingScene.com. “I’ll tell you what – he did not give him the opportunity. Danny gave a lot of concessions. They’re paying him peanuts for the fight. They wanted Danny to sign for a rematch clause. If he didn’t do that, they were gonna give Nery the fight. So, that’s the truth. Danny’s the one who made this fight happen. They can say whatever they want. Danny made the fight happen.”
Roman became the WBC’s mandatory challenger for its super bantamweight title in September 2020. Fulton won the WBC belt in his last fight, when he fended off a relentless Brandon Figueroa and won their action-packed 12-round title unification bout by majority decision November 27 at Park MGM’s Dolby Live in Las Vegas.
Figueroa (22-1-1, 17 KOs), of Weslaco, Texas, upset Nery by seventh-round knockout in his previous fight to win the WBC title from the strong Mexican southpaw. Roman also is the WBO’s number one challenger for Fulton’s other title, which he won when he soundly defeated Angelo Leo (21-1, 9 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 12-rounder that took place in January 2021 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
“I’m the mandatory for the WBC,” Roman said. “I’ve been the mandatory since September 2020. So, I had to wait for Nery and then Figueroa. And then this guy tried to fight someone else. No, you know, I’m the guy you’ve gotta fight. I’m a former unified champion.”
Roman (29-3-1, 10 KOs) lost his IBF and WBA 122-pound crowns to Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev in January 2020. Akhmadaliev edged Roman by a debatable split decision in a very competitive fight DAZN streamed from Meridian Island Gardens in Miami.
Los Angeles’ Roman made four defenses of his WBA belt and won the IBF belt from TJ Doheny in the bout before Akhmadaliev defeated him. Roman didn’t have a rematch clause in his contract for his fight with Akhmadaliev (10-0, 7 KOs), who was the mandatory challenger for Roman’s WBA title.
“When Danny was champion, [Fulton] called him out,” Gonzalez said. “There’s plenty of YouTube videos where he’s calling him out. Danny doesn’t wanna say this, but [Fulton] keeps telling everybody that he did not wanna give him the opportunity. Danny had mandatories. Every time he fought it was a mandatory. Now, Fulton was not [rated] at the time. So, how can Danny give him the opportunity? The sanctioning bodies decide those things. Now, Danny wants his opportunity to fight him, and it’s only fair.”
Philadelphia’s Fulton demonstratively told Roman and his team during their press conference Thursday that he'll prove Saturday night why most sportsbooks have installed Fulton as at least a 5-1 favorite. Gonzalez suggested that Fulton’s confidence isn’t as his as his public persona indicates.
“Why was he looking for a rematch clause if Danny’s so easy? See what I’m saying? They have doubts,” Gonzalez said. “They straight-out told us that they didn’t wanna fight Danny, so we had to give all those concessions in order to get this fight. They wanted to fight Nery. We were threatened with that. If we didn’t concede to the purse and concede to the rematch clause, they would have given us the fight. That is a fact. So, he did not give Danny the opportunity.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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