Stephen Fulton Jr claimed the WBO Super Bantamweight title with a commanding points win over Angelo Leo at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut on Saturday night.
Fulton Jr (19-0, 8 KOs) and Leo (20-1, 9 KOs) were due to meet last August, but Fulton and members of his team returned positive COVID-19 tests to put the contest on ice. Leo boxed on regardless, and took the vacant WBO crown with a win on the cards against Tremaine Williams.
The pair finally squared off and although Leo brought constant pressure to his opponent, he found Fulton just too good for him in the end.
The two exchanged at regular intervals, with a hell of a lot of body shots involved, but ‘Cool Boy Steph’ always seemed to hold the upper hand, working off his impressive and fast jab.
The champion’s best mode of attack was on the inside, but even then, he found Fulton, usually the boxer, more than adept at matching his foe.
It was clear going into the later rounds that Leo, 26, would require a knockout to pick up the victory, but that didn’t look likely to happen at all, as Fulton, 26, continued to stamp his authority.
It was still an absorbing fight, full of action, but there was no doubts as to who the winner would be as the bout went to the scorecards.
Two scores of 119-109 and a third at 118-110 ensured ‘Cool Boy Steph’ Fulton became the new champion, and Leo suffered his first professional defeat.
In the battle of the unbeaten, Raeese Aleem scored four knockdowns before finally seeing off Vic Pasillas in eleven rounds to take the interim WBA Super Bantamweight belt.
Pasillas (16-1, 9 KOs) was down in rounds two, six, nine and eleven, and the final knockdown was heavy enough to force the referee’s intervention. A massive overhand right from Aleem (18-0, 12 KOs) followed by a left hand did the damage, and the stoppage was correct.
Rolando Romero shrugged off the disappointment of his interim WBA Lightweight title defence falling through by stopping late notice replacement, Avery Sparrow, in seven rounds.
Romero (13-0, 11 KOs) was due to face Justin Pauldo, but the 26-year-old weighed in a near five pounds over the Lightweight limit, with the the fight pulled and in stepped Sparrow (10-3, 3 KOs).
The Philadelphia man was dropped in the opening frame, and docked two points in the sixth for an intentional low blow, and he was never in the contest as Romero, who is under the Mayweather Promotions banner, dominated proceedings.
With just over half a minute gone in the seventh, and with Sparrow chasing shadows and getting hurt, his corner wisely signalled to the referee to halt the action.
There was a shock at Super Bantamweight, where McJoe Arroyo’s career lies in tatters after an eight round points defeat to Sharone Carter.
Former IBF Super Flyweight world champion, Arroyo (18-4, 8 KOs) has now lost four of his last five fights, with Carter (12-3, 3 KOs) getting the nod by three identical scores of 77-75.
