In the main event, Stephen Fulton outslugged and outboxed a courageous Angelo Leo to take away Leo's WBO junior featherweight title by a unanimous decision that the judges thought was wider than I did.
The duo was initially scheduled to face off last August, but Fulton was diagnosed with Covid-19 and Leo won the vacant title over Fulton's replacement, Tramaine Williams.
Fulton fought Leo's fight on the inside for the first half of the fight and surprisingly threw more punches than the volume puncher over the entire match.
Fulton boxed a bit more in the second half, using his jab very well to keep Leo on the outside, but still didn't refrain from engaging Leo on the inside where he won most of the exchanges.
I scored Fulton a 117-111 winner, which was a little closer than the official scorecards but despite the margin of victory, the fight was always competitive and entertaining with Fulton perhaps showing the potential to be a star.
Fulton's willingness to slug and make an interesting contest makes me think that he may be more than a talented boxer and in a suddenly very interesting junior featherweight division, Fulton can be part of several intriguing battles.
While I'd like to see Fulton against WBA and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev, Fulton has the good fortune to hold a title in a division other than Akhmadaliev that is filled with PBC fighters such as WBC champion Luis Nery, WBC "champion in recess" (Due to injury) Rey Vargas, former WBA/IBF champion Danny Roman, and minor beltholder Brandon Figueroa.
Any of those fights would be one that I would be looking forward but I might like another fight for Fulton even better with the winner staking a claim with the best the division has to offer- And it's easy to make as well!
Raeese Aleem battered Vic Pasillas in the co-feature to win yet another of those minor WBA titles, but that's not important.
What is important is how Aleem took apart an undefeated fighter that entered the fight off his biggest win and impressively ended the fight.
Aleem knocked Pasillas down in the second, sixth, ninth, and eleventh rounds and forced the referee to end the fight shortly after Pasillas hit the mat in the eleventh round.
Pasillas tried to walk forward and grind Aleem down, but even though he was game and landed his share, it appeared that Aleem was a different level of fighter and when Aleem landed squarely, Pasillas didn't take the punishment.
Aleem's victory was one that you would hope moves him forward against a better fighter, but these silly WBA minor titles can often get in the way of a fighter's development and bigger fights.
When a fighter wins one of these minor titles, it removes that fighter, since he's now considered a "champion", from the other organization's ratings and often makes it even more difficult to find top fighters to face them.
Why these guys want any of the WBA (the other organizations do this as well, but the WBA is the worst offender) titles other than the main title is beyond me.
Paying the sanctioning fees for a title that is considered worthless other than the handsome belt itself (I like the WBA belts the best of the four) and can hinder your career seems like a bad career move to me in most cases.
As for Aleem, I'd be all in for an Aleem challenge of Stephen Fulton for his WBO title, but I'd bet knowing PBC that we'll see a few defenses against overmatched competition instead of the several strong opponents that he could face- at 30 years of age ( not young for a lower weight fighter), Aleem needs to be moved quickly and into the top ten competition- I think he's ready for it.
In the boxing challenge, I scored three points to Ramon Malpica's one on the evening to move the season total to five to three in my favor.
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