Stephen Fulton wins the battle of the unification bout over Brandon Figueroa in a thriller over the weekend.
On Saturday night in Las Vegas, Fulton won by majority decision, which Figueroa says was a robbery by the boxing judges.
In a tight battle, Dave Moretti and Tim Tim Cheatham both scored the fight 116-112 in favor of Fulton, while judge David Sutherland scored it as a 114-114 draw.
Saturday's result handed Figueroa his first professional loss in a boxing ring, and first career loss since Shakur Stevenson defeated him in the 2014 USA Youth National Championship, when Figueroa was still fighting at the amateur level.
Figueroa called the fight's result as "the biggest robbery of the year", followed by both fighters expressing their open-interest in a boxing rematch.
Fulton, now unified champion, said the competitive pace of the whole fight is what makes this victory sweeter than most boxing victories.
"It's special because the fight itself was a classic, it was a rough fight from round 1 to round 12, so when you become a winner after fights like that, it's just an amazing feeling," Fulton said.
The now unified champion addressed the "robbery" comment made by Figueroa, stating that he reacted like most fighters would after a tough defeat that came down the wire.
"His feelings right now, his frustration, his emotions, if he wants to run it back, we can run it back," Fulton said. "He reacted the way I probably would have reacted," he added.
Fulton wants to take his time to recover before fully committing to another main event in the foreseeable future, saying that his preparation for Saturday's fight against Figueroa was tough on his body leading up to Saturday night.
"I'm going to take some time off, I've been training for this fight since June, losing weight since August, it's all about timing with those caliber fights," Fulton stated in the post-match press conference.
