Outside of his showdown against Naoya Inoue, Stephen Fulton pretty much dominated the competition. It wasn’t until he ran across Brandon Figueroa that things got a bit dicey.

During their first showdown in 2021, Fulton, who normally outboxes his opponents from the outside, was forced to bite down on his mouthpiece and fight. The bumps and bruises he endured were painful but he looked at them as a badge of honor as he walked out of the arena with a majority decision victory.

Fast forward four years later and the two are set to do it again. On February 1st, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Fulton will do his best to prove that he’s without question the better fighter.

The sport of boxing can be unpredictable but for Fulton, he knew that he would cross paths with Figueroa again at some point.

“Yea,” said Fulton to The Ring when asked if he was expecting a part two between them eventually. “I always said that.”

Since their first matchup, both fighters have gone in opposite directions. A loss to Fulton pushed Figueroa to the featherweight division. So far, everything has gone smoothly. Three appearances have equaled to three dominant wins. Now, with the WBC title strapped to his waist, The Ring’s No. 6 ranked 126-pounder has all of the momentum in the world. Fulton, on the other hand, is attempting to find his rhythm.

After coming up woefully short against Inoue, Fulton (22-1, 8 KOs) took over a year off to get his mind and game right. When he returned, he believed he was better than ever. The results, however, scream otherwise.

In his lone appearance of 2024, Fulton scraped by with a split decision victory against Carlos Castro. Whether he’s ready or not, the Philly star will look to make it 2-0 against Figueroa.

As for their rivalry, Fulton respects Figueroa as a fighter and looks forward to sharing the ring with him again. With that said, he remembers what took place after their first fight.

For months on end, Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) was incredulous over his loss to Fulton. While he fussed and groaned, Fulton shook his head. Even now, four years later, he still doesn’t appreciate how things played out.

“The way he handled himself after that fight. He wasn’t a good sportsman.”