Stephen Fulton Shreds Ra’eese Aleem: “He’s Corny To Me, He Has Yet To Fight A Name”

For approximately two years, Ra’eese Aleem has continued to scream and yell in the direction of Stephen Fulton. Most recently, after dissecting Mike Plania over the course of 12 rounds on September 4, Aleem (20-0, 12 KOs) boldly called out Fulton to face him in the ring.

Ostensibly irritated with his constant criticism, Fulton revealed how he really feels about his super bantamweight partner.

“It’s corny to me,” Fulton said on the PBC Podcast. “To the media and casual boxing fans, yes, he can be nice to them, but to me he’s cheesy.”

Aleem, 32, has yet to have a competitive fight in 20 pro appearances. But even with the Las Vegas native beating his competition, Fulton isn’t convinced he’s much of a threat.

Ultimately, as the unified champion continues to watch Aleem’s career unfold, Fulton (21-0, 8 KOs) begins to narrow his eyes as he looks over his longtime rival’s resume. Considering Aleem’s career spans more than a decade, Fulton wonders when he will face more credible opponents.

“He is desperate to fight. When have you ever heard of me being afraid of someone? I fought against the top five in the division. He still has a name to fight.”

Fulton, a Philadelphia native who is currently in possession of the WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles, has only shown interest in taking on the unified champion, Murodjon Akhmadaliev. In his last outing, the 28-year-old handily outboxed Daniel Roman, leading the former unified champion into retirement.

If all goes according to plan, Fulton would successfully wrest the IBF and WBA titles from Akhmadaliev, before setting up a showdown against unified bantamweight champion and pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue. Considering the historic bouts Fulton could soon be a part of, he sees no reason to accept Aleem’s fight offer.

“I’m growing. I just turned 28, I’m already around 145 or more. My body will not be able to continue losing weight. That is why I am not as quick to fight someone who is not going to give me anything like Aleem and Luis Nery. What am I getting from fighting them right now? I’m in talks for Undisputed and Inoue. If they were in my shoes, they wouldn’t fight so quickly with someone who has nothing to offer them.”