Undefeated Fulton could be Philly's next boxing star

During the day, a cement block holds open the door to the James Shuler Boxing Gym on Brooklyn Street in West Philadelphia.  But a few minutes before 9 p.m., Philadelphia's next hope for a world champion walks up the narrow staircase to the ring on the second floor.

Stephen Fulton was shaped here. Last month, while sitting in his Southwest Philadelphia apartment with his girlfriend and 8-month-old son, Muqtadir, Fulton heard gunshots outside his window. He looked out and saw a body in front of him.

These are the streets where he was raised. This gym has trained him. The 22-year-old featherweight won the Golden Gloves title in 2013 and has started his pro career with an 11-0 record and five knockouts. He last fought in April, when he beat Luis Rosario, who was then 8-0-1. Boxrec.com ranks Fulton 134th in the 126-pound class, although just eight fighters have ascended higher with fewer fights, and only about a dozen ahead of Fulton are younger.

Fulton recently signed with manager Al Haymon, who handles many of the sport's biggest stars, and the date of his next fight is up in the air. Now his dreams extend beyond this city's borders.

"That's how I grew up — everybody seemed like everybody was for themselves," Fulton said. "So I had to step up and be the one that wants to get out."

Everything Fulton knows is here. His parents live together here. His sisters do, too. He recently moved from Southwest Philadelphia to the Northeast. He has formed an unbreakable relationship with his trainer, Hamza Muhammad.

Initially, Fulton wanted more "for the wrong reasons" — more money, or fancy cars. But life has hardened those desires. He has lost friends, like Kyrell Tyler, the popular dirt-bike rider who was shot and killed at age 23 in 2014.

"The neighborhood that we're from, we're all products of our environment, but we find different means to separate ourselves from the norm, from the drama that goes on in the streets," Muhammad said. "The gym saves you in a way."

A new father, Fulton wants better for Muqtadir. He wants space between his house and the next one — acres, even. He wants peace of mind. He does not want to sleep with a gun under his bed.

And with a chance to become a star, he knows the onus falls on him to create that future.

"I have to," Fulton said. "Everybody looking at me like I've got to be the one to take everybody out. It's a lot of pressure."

Muhammad goes back further. To win the Golden Gloves title in 2013, Fulton had to avenge a loss from the Silver Gloves tournament years earlier. His opponent nudged him during the weigh-in and muttered something to Fulton, who stayed quiet and then won the fight later.

"He was so focused that tournament that nothing was going to take that win from him," Muhammad said. "So that's how focused he was, and that's when I noticed. He didn't want to hang out. He didn't want to talk to nobody. He didn't want to chill."

Fulton grew up with people who don't have the same dreams as him, perhaps because they have not seen the places he has. His amateur career took him from Miami to Russia to Ireland, giving him the confidence to write his ending.

"I know I'm going to make it," he said. "Only thing that can stop me is death."