O'Shaquie Foster and Emanuel Navarrete are two champions pigeon-holed by boxing fans who have quite rigid opinions about the styles of both fighters.
The common thought is that Foster, who grew up in Orange but lives and trains in Houston, is the slick boxer, who thinks his way around the ring and relies on his defense and superior technique to win fights. Navarrete is regarded as the stereotypical brazen Mexican fighter looking for knockouts.
O'Shaquie Foster vs. Emanuel Navarrete
Whether those preconceived definitions are perfect fits or not, both fighters have found their way to the top of the junior lightweight division in their own ways. Foster (25-3, 12 KOs) is the 130-pound World Boxing Council champion who has successfully defended that belt two straight times by winning dominating decisions over Stephen Fulton and Raymond Ford. Navarrete (40-2-1, 33 KOs) is a three-division champion, working his way up to junior lightweight where he holds the World Boxing Organization and International Boxing Federation titles with two straight knockouts to hold on to those belts.
Those styles will clash with all three belts on the line when the two meet Saturday night at San Antonio's Frost Bank Center.
"He wants someone that's going to sit in front of him and I think my style is a little bit more difficult," the 33-year-old Foster said Thursday. "We're here now, so we'll see Saturday night."
In the build-up to the fight, the 31-year-old Navarrete taunted Foster saying maybe he'll stick his chin out and let his opponent get in a good shot just so he can turn the fight into a war, instead of a more technical fight.
Upon hearing that, Bobby Benton, Foster's trainer and owner of Houston's Main Street Gym, put his hands together in prayer, hoping Navarrete will actually try that route.
"If he puts his chin out there like that, he'll go to sleep," Benton said.
Foster, who is a slight favorite in the fight, laughs off any such talk.
"It sounded good when he said it, but when you watch him fight, he doesn't even do that for those other guys," Foster said. "He doesn't really like getting hit in my opinion. He'll trade with you, but we'll see. If he does that, it'll be a great night for me, I'm not going to lie to you."
For his part, Navarrete says he respects Foster's boxing ability, but is willing to do whatever it takes to open up the fight.
"What I don't want is an entire night where we're just jabbing each other and we see who can jab more," Navarrete said. "I don't think the people want to see that fight. I think they want to see a good fight. They want to see a war. They want to see both fighters come in with the intention to get the titles and to search for the victory. So what I referred to is an attractive fight, a tough fight, maybe even a bloody fight."
Foster hasn't stopped a fighter since 2023 when he defended his title against Rocky Hernandez in the challenger's backyard in Cancun, Mexico, when he got into a slugfest and came back to knock out Hernandez, who was winning on the judge's scorecard, in the final round. Even without a high number of knockouts on his ledger, Foster asks people to just watch what happened in his previous fights.
"A lot of people look at everything I can do in the ring and try to put power in the back end (of what I can do), but once they get in there, every one of them, they feel it and you see them, they're backing up and at the end of the fight, you see me walking them down," Foster said. "I think this will be another one of those fights where they think they're going to be walking into me and once they feel that power and he realizes it's not going to be that easy, we're going to have them on their back foot."
After beating Ford at University of Houston's Fertitta Center in May, Foster wanted a shot at Shakur Stevenson, who has moved up in weight and is regarded as one of the pound-for-pound best. That fight hasn't transpired, but Foster is happy with his opportunity to win more belts at 130 pounds and has his eye on the winner of December's Anthony Cacace-Nick Ball fight, which will be for the only other belt in the division not owned by Foster or Navarrete.
But, first, he has something to prove against Navarrete.
"He's doing all that talking like he's just this tough guy. I'm going to show him I'm tough too," Foster said. "It's going to be a great night, I promise you. All that talking about the jabbing and whoopdewoo, he's going to feel a lot more than the jab, I promise him that."
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There’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Houston's O'Shaquie Foster promises Emanuel Navarrete will feel more than his jab in title fight.