Philly boxer Stephen Fulton survived a ‘tiger attack.’ Now he’s ready to face ‘The Monster’ in Japan

Stephen Fulton Jr. hid as a kid in his bedroom, allowing his mind to run wild while playing with his toy cars. He moved all over the city, shuffling in and out of public housing in almost every neighborhood. Fulton — now Philadelphia’s only boxing world champion — didn’t have much. But he always had that imagination.

That’s how he created the story to describe the mark on his back, left over from a birth defect caused by his mother’s drug use during pregnancy. It looked like a hole as his muscles were not fully formed and his sister covered it with fresh padding during each diaper change to prevent the blood from pouring out. It eventually became a deep bruise. Or better yet, a tiger scratch.

“I told everyone when I was a kid that I went to the zoo before they had like the clear glass and they just had gates guarding the animals,” Fulton said. “I got too close and a tiger clawed my back. Everyone believed me. They were like, ‘You for real?’”

For a kid, a tale about a tiger was more fun than explaining the truth. But as Fulton fights Tuesday in Tokyo in the biggest bout of his career, the “tiger scratch” is a perfect reminder of everything he overcame to get to the top of his sport and why he’s willing to risk it all against an opponent called “The Monster.”

Fulton (21-0, eight knockouts) didn’t balk at defending his WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles against unbeaten Naoya Inoue, who has won all but three of his 24 victories by knockout. And the 29-year-old Fulton had no problem traveling to his challenger’s home country where The Monster is a rock star. Inoue, 30, has won world titles in three weight classes, is considered by some to be boxing’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, and is a boxer whom few seem willing to meet.

For the kid who survived a tiger attack, it was the perfect fight.

Fulton was born with a hole in his back and his father was imprisoned before Fulton turned 1. He says he’s from West Philly, but Fulton lived in nearly every part of Philadelphia with a mother who was trying to raise four children while battling a drug addiction. And that was all before he stepped into the ring.

To get to Tuesday, Fulton knocked off the premier fighters at 118 pounds and handed Angelo Leo and Brandon Figueroa their first losses two years ago to become the WBC and WBO champion. Fulton did not shy away from anyone on his road to a title. Undefeated? Fulton beat them. Underdog? He defied those odds. The Monster? Fulton already survived a tiger attack.

“It explains why I am the world champion,” Fulton said. “That’s why I’m the world champion. I’m very proud. I like doing the things that other people won’t do or aren’t willing to do.”

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Fulton has won his last four fights by decision and hasn’t had a knockout since 2019. It’s easy to discredit his power against Inoue, who has won 88% of his fights by KO and is a heavy favorite. Fulton is fine with that.

He says people will be surprised by his power the same way Daniel Roman was last summer. A good defensive fighter, Fulton has displayed an ability to land shots without absorbing his opponent’s heavy punches. That will be the key on Tuesday: avoiding Inoue’s power will be more important than Fulton trying to prove his own power.

“It has nothing to do with power for my knockouts,” Fulton said. “It has more to do with executing. That’s all it is. A person could have no power or way less power than I do, but if they know how to execute, they can stop their opponent and knock their opponent out and get their opponent out of there. I’m ready to go out there and lay it all out on the line. I know what I have to do to win and I know what I have to do to embrace or stay away from power.”

Fulton’s father returned from prison when Fulton was 10 years old. By then, his mother had overcome her drug addiction. His dad introduced him to Islam and connected Fulton with Hamza Muhammad, who had ordered some boxing equipment off the internet and was training kids in his mother’s basement. It was the future world champion’s gateway to boxing. The kid who bounced around the city finally felt at home.

“Once I stepped in there and I was good at this,” Fulton said, “I instantly knew this was meant for me.”

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Fulton quickly became one of the city’s top prospects, traveling the world as an amateur boxer with a dream to become a professional champion. His father paid for those amateur tournaments and his mother always had his back.

“My mother was just always there for me no matter what,” Fulton said. “She was always there.”

It would have been easy for Fulton to stew about the challenges he faced as a kid. Instead, he embraced them.

“She was a single mother raised on her own by herself,” Fulton said of his mother. “She was just teaching us to survive. As a kid, I didn’t know much about forgiveness but I knew that was my mother. I feel like I never paid this any mind. To this day, I still don’t worry about my back. I’ve moved way past those types of things. Look where I am now. I didn’t dwell on it because as a kid you don’t know where it came from until you get older and then they explain it to you. Even then, I was like, ‘I haven’t complained about it this whole time. Why should I start now?’ I’m not even perfect. We all have our flaws. It’s all about how you go about things. That’s how I look at it.”

The mark on Fulton’s back is not as noticeable as it was when he was a boy bragging about how he survived that day at the zoo. But it is still there and he feels discomfort whenever someone touches it. It’s a reminder of where he came from. Fulton probably didn’t seem born to be a world champion when his sister was changing the padding on his back.

But his ability to overcome those challenges is what made him a world champion. His father will be in his corner on Tuesday in Tokyo when Fulton fights as his trainer Wahid Rahim says “behind enemy lines.” His mother will be watching from home in Philadelphia, bragging about her son on TV. The kid who served a tiger attack is now ready for The Monster. And his family is by his side.

“You can always correct your mistakes,” Fulton said. “No matter if you start off on a zigzag and not a straight line, you can always get on that straight path. It’s never too late. It’s never too late.”

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