Weslaco native and former 122-pound world titlist Brandon "The Heartbreaker" Figueroa is closing in on a return to the ring in the first quarter of 2023. He'll likely take on "Cool Boy" Stephen Fulton in a rematch of their all-action 2021 scrap. Fulton, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was awarded a very controversial decision in which nearly all observers agreed on two things. It was a highly entertaining "fight of the year" type fight, and the Rio Grande Valley native won the all-action affair. Unfortunately for the south Texan, judges Tim Cheatham and notoriously atrocious judge Dave Moretti handed it 116-112 scorecards giving the unification bout to Fulton and giving "The Heartbreaker" his first career loss.
At the time of the bout, both fighters seemed interested in a rematch. However the prospects seemed unlikely as Figueroa, who had long talked about the move, jumped up to 126, and Fulton was a newly minted unified champ at 122, and he would presumably want to stay at the weight class and defend his straps.
However, it appears Fulton is willing to move up to 126 to make the rematch with Figueroa. The deal has not been finalized, and no date or location has been confirmed. However, Figueroa has returned to camp in San Antonio, the same location he did camp for his last fight back in July. When he made his featherweight debut at the Alamodome in San Antonio and destroyed slick-moving prospect Carlos Castro in the sixth round to move his record to 23-1-1 (18).
Fulton has fought just once since the epic clash with Figueroa as well. In June, "Cool Boy" outclassed former unified world champion, Daniel Roman, at the Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and successfully defended both his WBC and WBO versions of the Super Bantamweight belt.