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          Fulton, Foster now fighting for WBC interim lightweight title

          • Brett OkamotoDec 5, 2025, 08:41 PM
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              Brett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN since 2010. He has covered all of the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names such as Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer on the 30 for 30 film: "Chuck and Tito," which looked back at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.
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          A marquee matchup between Stephen Fulton Jr. and O'Shaquie Foster will proceed as planned on Saturday in San Antonio, but the two fighters will no longer compete for Foster's WBC junior lightweight title.

          Fulton (23-1, 8 KOs), who was moving up from the featherweight division (126 pounds) to challenge Foster for his title, weighed in at 132 pounds on Friday, two pounds over the 130-pound junior lightweight limit. As a result, Foster (23-3, 12 KOs) could have retained the belt with a successful defense, but the title would have been declared vacant if Fulton were to win the fight.

          After it appeared the matter was settled, the WBC stepped in well after the weigh-in ceremony and sanctioned the matchup as an interim lightweight title bout at 135 pounds. The move effectively bails Fulton out of his earlier weight miss and affords him an opportunity at a title he lost on the scales for Foster's 130-pound title. The winner will become the mandatory challenger for Shakur Stevenson's WBC title. Stevenson will move up in weight and is set to face Teofimo Lopez for the WBO junior welterweight title on Jan. 31 in New York.

          Fulton, 31, won the WBC featherweight championship in February and elected to move straight up to face Foster. The bout was originally scheduled to take place on the undercard of an event headlined by Sebastian Fundora and Keith Thurman on Oct. 25 but was postponed to December after Fundora canceled the event with a hand injury.

          An interim WBC junior welterweight matchup between Isaac Cruz and Lamont Roach Jr. headlines Saturday's event inside Frost Bank Center in San Antonio. Cruz came in at 138.6 pounds at Friday's weigh-in, while Roach tipped the scales at 139.6.

          The card also features Erislandy Lara's WBA middleweight title defense against Johan Gonzalez, who stepped in on short notice this week after Janibek Alimkhanuly, the WBO and IBF champion, failed a drug test and was pulled from the scheduled unification bout against Lara. Despite the short notice, Gonzalez easily made weight at 158.6 pounds, while the 42-year old Lara came in a pound heavier at 159.6.

          ESPN's Andreas Hale contributed to this report.