Stephen Fulton emphatically defended his WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles at the Armoury in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as he took a wide win on the scorecards against former world champion Daniel Roman.
Fulton (21-0, KO8) is fast rising up the pound for pound charts, and won the WBO belt in January last year, before adding the WBC strap in November with a points win over Brandon Figueroa. Roman (29-4-1, KO10) lost his WBA (Super) and IBF titles in January 2020, but had rebounded with two straight wins.
The beginning to the contest was a competitive one, with both men letting their hands go in the opening round and Roman getting the better of the exchanges. Roman arguably shaded the second too with some sharp left hands finding a home, but from round three onwards, it was one way traffic in favour of the champion. ‘Cool Boy Steph’ settled into a rhythm, with his jab a potent weapon and one that Roman quickly struggled to get to grips with.
The Philadelphian racked up round after round, and by the championship rounds, it became evident that Roman needed a knockout. Although he rallied in the tenth, he was tiring, while Fulton looked like he was more than comfortable with the pace, and closed out with more commanding combinations, and the fight went the cards.
Two scores of 120-108, and a third at 119-109 confirmed the dominance of Fulton, who remained unified champion.
Watch back all the action from the main event via ShowTime’s Youtube Channel.
David Morrell (7-0, KO6) defended his WBA super middleweight title on the undercard, stopping Kalvin Henderson (15-2-1, KO11) in the fourth round. It was a one-sided beat down, and should have been stopped a round earlier, but Morrell ended matters in round four. A left hook wobbled Henderson, and more power shots forced the referee’s intervention.
At super lightweight, Alfredo Santiago (14-2, KO6) upset Karl Dargan (20-2, KO10) as the Dominican scored a one round stoppage, and at super bantamweight, Jose Tito Sanchez (9-0, KO5) won the battle of unbeatens with an eight round points win over Ariel Perez De La Torre (8-1, KO6).
In six round action, there were three second round stoppage wins. Bek Nurmaganbet (7-0, KO5) took out Khainell Wheeler (7-2, KO6) at super middleweight, Demler Zamora (9-0, KO8) stopped Raul Chirino (19-15, KO12) at super featherweight, and at super bantamweight, Yevgeniy Pavlov (7-0, KO5) halted Alexis Salido (2-3, KO1). Super welterweight Travon Marshall (6-0, KO5) stopped Marcus Washington (5-4, KO2) in the final round of their contest.
In the two four rounders, there were early wins for Ablaikhan Zhussupov (2-0, KO1), who scored a first round stoppage against Edgar Ramirez (18-21-1, KO14) at super welterweight, and for Abilkhan Amankul (1-0, KO1), who won his debut in the third round against Devontae McDonald (1-1, KO1) at middleweight.
