Philly’s Stephen Fulton won a boxing title in jorts and Timberlands (sort of) and created ‘a cultural moment’
Fulton hired Dominic Ciambrone, also known as The Shoe Surgeon, to make his everyday wear-inspired look for the ring.

Saturday night was a monumental one for Stephen Fulton, for two completely different reasons. He beat his boxing rival Brandon Figueroa in a 12-round unanimous decision for the WBC featherweight title at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, his second division weight class title belt, and fourth world title overall. But the other reason? His name was buzzing on social media — and not for what he was doing inside the ring.
Rather, the attention was paid on what he was wearing inside of it that set social media ablaze. The West Philly native, who improved to 23-1 with his win, was wearing jean short-inspired trunks and Timberland boot-styled shoes. The fit, which also featured a green Carhartt jacket on the walk out to the ring, was designed and put together by Dominic Ciambrone, also known as The Shoe Surgeon, a Los Angeles-based artist who creates boxing outfits and designs shoes for professional athletes.
After Fulton sent The Shoe Surgeon a few ideas of what he wanted to wear in his next fight, it took about two weeks to come up with the design.
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“They took one of the jackets I had, and they designed it. And then they put these jeans shorts with it,” Fulton said by phone Tuesday. “When I seen the jean shorts, I looked at it and said, ‘I’m wearing them with Timberland boots.’ And I sent the laughing emoji [to The Shoe Surgeon] … They did two mockups, and one of them was the Carhartt jacket, and the other one a brand called Needles. And I said, ‘What can people actually relate more to? And it was the Carhartt, the Timberlands and the jean shorts. And it just came off so authentic.
“I was like ‘This is like, an everyday fit. This is what we wear on the outside on a daily basis.’ … It was like a cultural moment.”
Fulton, 30, and Figueroa were the undercard to Saturday’s main event between David Benavidez and David Morrell, but the West Philly native’s fit dominated the headlines. One X account said that Fulton’s fit inside the ring “looks like a Def Jam Vendetta created character.” X account Complex Style wrote Fulton’s fit “gotta be the MOST NEW YORK boxing fit ever.”
In his previous fight on Sept. 14 on the Canelo Álvarez-Edgar Berlanga undercard against Carlos Castro, Fulton says he wore a Margiela style outfit to the ring, which he described as “high fashion.” But he feels his latest ring fit is “No. 1, out of all [my] boxing outfits.”
“It was like a moment that we all came together to laugh at something, or that we all could relate to,” Fulton said. “It was like a bonding moment, but it honestly felt good, and I just feel good that I’m able to inspire other people. Because [the outfit] was tough. It’s actually trending and talked about over in Japan as well.”
The win was also meaningful for Fulton, who lost his WBO and WBC junior featherweight championships after being knocked out by Naoya Inoue in July 2023 in Japan. “This [win] right here put me in the history books,” he said of defeating Figueroa.
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Fulton, who was trained by Bozy Ennis, the father of Jaron “Boots” Ennis, for his latest fight, reflected on the success he and Boots Ennis have had, considering both hold world champion belts. Ennis beat Karen Chukhadzhian in a 12-round bout by unanimous decision in November to retain his IBF welterweight crown.
“Now we have two world champions from the city of Philadelphia at the moment, and that’s like major for the city, it’s rare that you see two professional boxers from the city that are both world champions,” Fulton said. “It means a lot, and it also inspires young kids and young fighters underneath us, from the city to want to take after us and be better than us and do something positive with their lives.”