Hardcore boxing fans are pumped for the looming unification match-up between O’Shaquie Foster and Emanuel Navarrete.
The WBC super featherweight champion faces the WBO and IBF titleholder on October 24 at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio. Three world titles will be at stake in a fight as two different champions with very different styles meet in a meaningful 130-pound division clash. Foster said a win here will take his career to the next level.
“This fight means everything to me right now, man,” Foster told KO on SI. “The opportunity that’s in front of me is, you know, all I got to do is capitalize and it puts me in a different atmosphere.”
Foster said his interest in Navarrete as a possible opponent dates back to when the Mexican’s fought Ghana’s Isaac Dogboe. As Navarrete moved up through the divisions, Foster began to notice him as a potential opponent.
“So I’ve been watching him for a long time. A long time,” Foster said. The match-up between the two is as good as it gets in boxing’s current landscape.
Foster has a specific view of the challenge ahead. He described Navarrete not as a pressure fighter but as a “conditioned volume puncher.” Foster may hope he can keep Navarrete at a distance before the “whirling dervish” of a fighter (as former world champion Chris Algeri describes him) runs out of gas.
Foster described himself as a boxer-puncher. He told KO on SI that he was confident working on the inside as well as switching stances between southpaw and orthodox
Foster dreams of UK fight
Foster also has clear plans for the future of his career beyond this unification. When asked whether he wanted to fight in Britain, he made it clear that appearing before a UK crowd remains a dream.
“For sure. For sure. I think I’ve always loved the fan base out there,” Foster said. “They show up, especially for their guys.”
A British appearance remains an ambition rather than an announced next step. Foster stressed that his immediate task is beating Navarrete.
Anthony Cacace, Nick Ball and Ryan Garner are all possible opponents for Foster. Foster’s interview appears to reference Cacace in the unclear passage about Ball. Anthony Cacace is the current WBA super featherweight title holder. If Foster beats Navarrete, this would offer a route to undisputed status, subject to the politics of boxing. Cacace will be in Belfast on December 19 to face off against challenger Nick Ball. If Ball wins, Foster is open to crossing the pond to fight him as well.
“I definitely always have wanted to, you know, take that trip and fight over there,” he said. “So, you know, hopefully we can make it happen. But I got to get Navarrete out the way first.”
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