Foster vs Fulton in the works for Aug. 16

The WBC’s featherweight and super featherweight champions will duke it out later this summer

Mike Coppinger reports and Jake Donovan confirms that WBC super featherweight champion O’Shaquie Foster has “struck a deal” to face featherweight titlist Stephen Fulton. The bout is “expected to land” on the August 16th “Tank” Davis vs Lamont Roach Jr 2 undercard.

Foster (23-3, 12 KO) is 3-1 since beating Vargas for the vacant belt in 2023, warring his way past Eduardo “Rocky” Hernandez before edging out Abraham Nova and trading split decisions in a two-fight series with Robson Conceicao. It seemed as though a unification with fellow Top Rank fixture Emanuel Navarrete was the obvious next step, but with “Vaquero” tied up with his pending rematch with Charly Suarez, he had to look elsewhere.

Fulton (23-1, 8 KO) has yet to defend the belt he lifted from Brandon Figueroa in their February rematch and I’ve gotta say, this move doesn’t really sit right with me. The whole reason Figueroa had that title in the first place is because Vargas ground the division to a halt by leaving to chase Foster.

Hell, the guy has an active mandatory challenger in Bruce Carrington, who’ll have to settle for an interim title fight against little-known Namibian contender Mateus Heita next month.

But, whatever. It’s an interesting clash of technicians and Roach nearly hit paydirt with the same maneuver, so why not.