After grievously missing weight in last Saturday’s super featherweight debut against O’Shaquie Foster, Stephen Fulton has predictably vacated his WBC featherweight belt. What was originally an interim title defense between titlist Bruce Carrington and challenger Carlos Castro, the co-feature for Teofimo Lopez vs Shakur Stevenson on January 31st, will now have the full title on the line.
Fulton (23-2, 8 KO) took the belt from Brandon Figueroa in their February rematch and immediately made a beeline for Foster, only to hit the scales at 132 and lethargically stagger his way to a wide decision loss. We’ll see where he ends up in the WBC’s next rankings update.
The WBC’s alleged plan was to hold a sort of mini-tournament to determine the next mandatory challenger at 126, pitting Carrington (16-0, 9 KO) against Mateus Heita and Castro (30-3, 14 KO) against wayward former champ Rey Vargas in the semis. “Shu Shu” did his part, but the Vargas fight never materialized; Castro hasn’t seen action since flooring Fulton in a split decision loss two Septembers ago.
Still, good fight. Castro has only ever lost to quality operators and two of his three defeats came via split decision.
