Stephen Fulton vs Brandon Figueroa 2

The first defeat of Stephen Fulton was at the hands of Naoya Inoue. The first defeat of Brandon Figueroa was at the hands of Stephen Fulton. Brandon Figueroa is the younger brother of former lightweight champion Omar Figueroa.

This is yet another rematch. As I mentioned in the past, I do not like predicting rematches because the two fighters are already familiar with one another, so each fighter has a predisposition about how he will approach the fight. Sometimes, it can act or serve as a blueprint of how to win the rematch, or it could also have the opposite effect in which the prior winner uses it as the blueprint of how to win as well.

The two men first fought each other on November 27, 2021. While it was several years ago, it's still fairly fresh. There is no better way of actually getting to know another fighter other than fighting the other fighter for 12 rounds. 

When the two first met each other, they were both champions. Fulton was just a WBO champion, while Figueroa was the WBC world champion. By beating Figueroa, Fulton became the WBO and WBC super-bamtamweight world champions before losing them to Naoya Inoue.

Let's address the matter directly. The two boxers have contrasting styles. Fulton is the more technical boxer, while Figueroa is the more offensive fighter. Figueroa enjoys slugging and getting busy, but he typically starts the fight slowly. Overall, it was a close fight; some may argue that the cleaner punches Fulton landed were enough to win him the fight; however, many people would agree that Figueroa's aggressive style might have won the day. As an indication of how close the fight was, Fulton won by majority decision, meaning a judge saw him win the fight.

One could have viewed the first fight as a draw. But Figueroa seems to be planning on using the previous fight as a blueprint for how he could win the rematch. With Figueroa fighting the way he does all throughout his boxing career, it's kind of difficult or hard to believe that he's going to change his style. I don't think he will make enough adjustments to baffle Fulton. As the more technical fighter, Fulton is more likely to make the adjustments to win again.

The best way for Figueroa to approach the fight is to keep fighting the way he did in the first fight. He successfully inflicted multiple punches on Fulton, backed him up to the ropes, and inflicted more damage there. If he can increase his output by a hundred punches, this will leave Fulton second-guessing. The key is to increase his output of punches and keep cornering Fulton to the ropes. If he can do that, it could help him.This second fight has a high likelihood of extending beyond its initial duration. Even as skilled as Fulton is, he lacks in the power department.

Figueroa's aggressive style is likely to prolong this fight.

As much as I like Figueroa, it is going to get tougher for him because of Fulton's ability to adjust. Predicting the type of decision that will be made is a different matter entirely.

Fulton wins by decision. 

Event Date: February 1st