Carrington–Castro Upgraded To Full WBC Featherweight Title

Bruce Carrington vs. Carlos Castro will be for the vacant WBC featherweight title on January 31st, 2026, in New York.

Carrington Lands Full Title Shot

The Castro fight was initially for Carrington’s WBC interim 126-lb title. But with Stephen Fulton vacating his WBC belt, the Carrington-Castro clash is now for the full featherweight title on the Ring 6 event on January 31st at Madison Square Garden.

Boxing Insider Dan Rafael broke the story of Carrington’s fight with Castro (30-3, 13 KOs) being for the WBC featherweight belt. Fulton confirmed that he’d “vacated” his WBC belt and that he wasn’t stripped, as Dan initially reported.

‘Shu Shu’ Carrington (16-0, 9 KOs) is in an ideal situation to win a world title by going up against Castro. He’s not being asked to fight one of the dangerous 126-pounders, like Raymond Ford or Hayato Tsutsumi. Fighting Castro is the perfect showcase fight for Carrington.

Castro’s Controversial Selection

What’s unclear is why Castro is fighting for a world title, given that he came off a 10-round split decision to Stephen Fulton on September 14, 2024. It doesn’t make sense for Carrington to be fighting a guy coming off a defeat rather than choosing one of the contenders who is at least winning.

Carrington didn’t look impressive in his 10-round majority decision win over Sulaiman Segawa on September 27, 2024. Many boxing fans felt that Segawa should have won that fight. I had him winning 7-3. But with Carrington being the A-side with a lot of hype behind him, it’s not a surprise that the judges gave him the victory. But he didn’t appear to win, and he showed flaws in his game that other fighters will take advantage of once his promoters match him tough.

Since the Segawa fight, Carrington has defeated these little-known fighters:

Mateus Heita – W-UD 12
Enrique Vivas – W-TKO 3
Dan Coolwell – W-UD 8

Fulton Vacates the WBC Belt

It’s understandable on Fulton’s part why he chose to give up the belt, as he failed to make weight for his scheduled super featherweight bout against the WBC champion O’Shaquie Foster for their December 6th fight at San Antonio, Texas.

Fulton came in 2 lbs over the 130-lb limit at 132 lbs. Fortunately for him, the WBC agreed to have the Foster-Fulton fight for the interim lightweight title. Fulton looked slow and lethargic throughout the fight and wound up losing to Foster by a 12-round unanimous decision.