Steve Kim reports that while nothing’s “finalized,” PBC on Showtime’s September 11th super bantamweight unification match between Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa has an excellent co-feature brewing, as former unified champ Danny Roman is in talks to face surging contender Ra’eese Aleem.
Roman (29-3-1, 10 KO) took the WBA belt from Shun Kubo in 2017 and defended it four times, out-warring TJ Doheny to add the IBF strap to his collection in the process. He came up just short against mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev in January 2020, but has since turned aside strong efforts from Juan Carlos Payano and Ricardo Espinoza.
Despite only graduating from eight-rounders early last year, the 31-year-old Aleem established himself as a contender to watch with seven consecutive finishes, including a surprisingly one-sided thrashing of fellow unbeaten Vic Pasillas in January.
Between these two fights and Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs. Ronny RIos, there’s a lot to love about the 122-pound division right now. Let’s hope this one gets over the finish line.