Stephen Fulton Nips Carlos Castro in a Prelude to Canelo vs Berlanga

In his first fight back after being dominated and stopped by pound-for-pound king Naoya Inoue in a fight for super bantamweight supremacy in July of last year, Stephen Fulton nipped upset-minded Carlos Castro, improving to 22-1 (8) in his first start as a featherweight. The verdict was split, with Fulton prevailing by 96-93 and 95-94 with the dissenter favoring Castro 95-94. The decision seemed fair although not in eyes of the predominantly Mexican crowd which booed the decision.

This was an entertaining 10-round fight between two evenly-matched 30-year-old campaigners. Long-time Phoenix resident Castro (30-3) put Fulton on the deck in round five with a counter right hand and Fulton rode his bicycle to shed the cobwebs as the round played out. But the Philadelphian, with new trainer Bozy Ennis in his corner, recuperated well and had a strong sixth round.

In round eight, Castro buckled Fulton’s knees with another straight right, but was unable to press his advantage. The bout served as the “main” prelim to the four-fight PPV card.

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In a welterweight contest slated for “10,” Mexico City’s Ricardo Salas, a 6/1 underdog, scored a second-round stoppage of Roiman Villa. The end in this slam-bang and all-too-brief skirmish came at the 2:06 mark of round three when Salas, fighting off the ropes, nailed Villa with a perfectly-placed, short right hand. Villa went down for the count.

Salas, whose de facto manager is the ubiquitous Sean Gibbons, improved to 20-2-2 with his 15^th win inside the distance. From Colombia by way of Venezuela, Villa (26-3) was making his first start since being stopped by Boots Ennis in July of last year.

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In the opener on the PBC YouTube channel, super featherweight Jonathan “Geo” Lopez, a 21-year-old Pennsylvania-born southpaw, won a wide 8-round decision over rugged San Antonio campaigner Richard Medina. Lopez pitched a shutout, winning 80-71 on all three cards, but this was hardly a stroll in the park for him.

Lopez, who improved to 17-0 (12), simply had too much class for Medina. A 20/1 favorite, the Eddy Reynoso-trained boxer hurt Medina at the end of round seven and put him on the canvas in the final round with a straight left hand, but Medina (15-3) kept on plugging away and maintained his distinction of never being stopped.

Also

In an off-TV fight, super middleweight Bek Nurmaganbet, a 26-year-old Kazakh, won his eighth straight inside the distance, improving to 12-0 (10) with a second-round stoppage of SoCal’s Joshua Conley (17-7-1).

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