Stephen Fulton walked away with the win against Carlos Castro on September 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Making his ring return, Philadelphia’s former unified super bantamweight champion defeated his Mexican-born Phoenix, Arizona-based opponent by decision.
The pair squared off atop the Canelo vs Berlanga free prelims. On his way to victory, Fulton suffered a knockdown in the fifth round from a right hand. After 10 rounds at featherweight, one judge scored the fight 95-94 in favor of Castro, while two other judges had 96-93 and 95-94 for Fulton.
With the win by split decision, former unified WBC and WBO 122 lbs champion Stephen Fulton improved to 22-1, 8 KOs and made his debut at 126 lbs. The 30-year-old lost his belts last July in Japan via eighth-round stoppage against Naoya Inoue. Carlos Castro dropped to 30-3, 14 KOs, and got his three-fight winning streak snapped.
“My coaches were telling me to keep my left hand up because he was trying to get the right hand in over the top,” said Fulton. “I allowed it to get through and I had to overcome adversity.”
“I could have let my hands go a little bit more. I didn’t want to box too much because I felt so good, but I could have boxed with my legs more. I have to get back in the gym, work on my movement and come back for the world title.”
Among other prelims, Mexican Ricardo Salas (20-2-2, 15 KOs) was on top in his U.S. debut, scoring a big KO against former interim title challenger Roiman Villa (26-3, 24 KOs) of Colombia. The scheduled for 10 rounds welterweight bout was halted at 2 minutes and 6 seconds into the third round.
Kicking off the action, Orlando, Florida-based unbeaten prospect Jonathan Lopez (17-0, 12 KOs) defeated Richard Medina (15-3, 8 KOs) of San Antonio, Texas by unanimous decision. After eight rounds at super featherweight, all three scores were 80-71.