On Friday night, Darius “DFG” Fulgham (14-0, 12 KOs) takes on Bektemir “Bully” Melikuziev (15-1, 10 KOs) in what his team is referring to as an unofficial WBA super middleweight title eliminator at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. “There is going to be separation in the super middleweight division,” Fulghum explained. “(WBA interim champion Caleb) Plant fights the day after my fight in Las Vegas, but [undisputed world champion Saul] 'Canelo’ Alvarez holds all the cards.” The key question, however, is how long Alvarez will maintain complete control of the division?
Alvarez (69-22, 39 KOs) rules the 168-pound division and the 34-year-old, who has been a professional boxer since 2005, fights twice a year to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (May) and Mexican Independence Day (September) weekends. Boxing’s ultimate rainmaker reportedly signed a four-fight agreement with Riyadh Season, which kicked off May 4th with am [uninspiring] twelve-round unanimous decision over William Scull (23-1, 9 KOs). Canelo has a mega-fight set versus another future Hall of Famer, Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), on September 12th in Las Vegas.
Even if he doesn’t retire after the Crawford fight, “Canelo” could be stripped of some or all of his four major titles. The winner of Fulghum vs. Melikuziev will position himself as a leading WBA world contender, if not its mandatory challenger for te winner of Caleb Plant vs. Jose Resendiz. [Editor's note: Fulghum's team may be disappointed, however, if the WBA sanctions Plant vs. former two-division champ Jermall Charlo for a vacant title, assuming Charlo wins his fight this weekend.]
The only super middleweights rated higher by the WBA than Melikuziev and Fulghum are Plant (23-2, 14 KOs), Christian Mbilli (27-0, 23 KOs), and Lester Martinez (19-0, 18 KOs). Plant is fighting Resendiz (15-2, 11 KOs) the day after Melikuziev vs. Fulghum, also in Las Vegas, on the same card as Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) vs. Thomas LaManna (39-5-1, 18 KOs). Plant vs. Charlo, assuming both are victorious, are rumored to be on a collision course for their next fights.
Mbilli, a French Olympian living in Canada, will likely be dropped from his #1 WBA ranking when he faces Maciej Sulecki (33-3, 13 KOs) on June 27th, in their WBC title fight in Quebec City- which could be for an interim title or a vacant world title. “This eliminator sets-up everything for me and I’m all business,” Fulghum said. “I won’t make it anything more than it is because each fight I’ve had was extra important; I wouldn’t be here if I had lost any of my fights. There’s no added pressure because this is an eliminator and there will be a lot more to come after this Friday night.”
The 28-year-old Fulghum, fighting out of Houston, has his fight against Melikuziev, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist from Uzbekistan, in its proper perspective. “This eliminator sets-up everything for me and I’m all business,” Fulghum said. “But I won’t make it anything more than it is because each fight I’ve had were extra important; I wouldn’t be here if I had lost any of my fights. There’s no added pressure because this is an eliminator because there will be a lot more to come after this Friday night.”
Fulghum was a decorated amateur boxer who was ranked No. 1 in the USA as a heavyweight, but as a professional he’s fought strictly as a super middleweight. He was the 2018 National Golden Gloves Tournament Champion, and he also won the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Somehow, he accomplished this while he was earning a nursing degree from Prairie View A & M University during COVID-19.
Fulghum is working with 3 Point Management.
