Figueroa positive for Covid-19, Fulton unification postponed

By Dan Rafael

WBC super bantamweight world titlist Brandon Figueroa has tested positive for Covid-19, forcing his title unification bout with WBO counterpart Stephen Fulton to be postponed on Tuesday, multiple sources told Fight Freaks Unite.

The much-anticipated 122-pound unification fight was scheduled to take place on Sept. 18 in the main event of a Showtime-televised tripleheader at Park MGM in Las Vegas.

A Showtime source told Fight Freaks Unite the plan is to reschedule all three televised bouts for a date to be determined in late October or November — depending, of course, on Figueroa’s health.

Also being postponed along with the main event are a pair of scheduled 10-round bouts: junior featherweight Ra’eese Aleem (18-0, 12 KOs) against Eduardo Baez (19-1-2, 6 KOs) and bantamweight Gary Antonio Russell (18-0, 12 KOs) versus Alejandro Barrios (24-2-5, 13 KOs).

Fulton had just relocated from his hometown of Philadelphia to Las Vegas for the final two weeks of his training camp.

“Prayers out to Brandon hope he recovers,” Fulton wrote on Twitter after Fight Freaks Unite broke the news. “Of course, I am upset but I have been here before, I’ll be even stronger come October. Never make me mad!!!”

Fulton (19-0, 8 KOs), 27, was due to make his first title defense after routing Angelo Leo in January to take his 122-pound belt. Figueroa (22-0-1, 17 KOs), 24, of Weslaco, Texas, also was due to make his initial defense, having knocked out Luis Nery in the seventh round to claim the WBC belt in May.