Boxing: O'Shaquie Foster beats Navarrete to unify three belts

O'Shaquie Foster is the unified junior lightweight (130 lb) champion. On Saturday 24 October at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, the American WBC champion beat Mexico's Emanuel Navarrete, who held the WBO and IBF belts, by unanimous decision: 118-108, 118-108 and 115-111. He also picked up the vacant Ring Magazine title.

Two knockdowns in the last round

Foster controlled the fight on the counter. Navarrete did not land a punch in the first round, according to ESPN. In the seventh, a counter left hook hurt the Mexican, who mounted his best rally in the tenth without changing the course of the fight. In the 12th and final round, Foster dropped him twice with counter rights, his back near the ropes.

CompuBox numbers show the gap: Foster landed 157 of 451 punches, Navarrete 99 of 527, throwing more but landing far less. The referee was Mark Nelson.

A champion who rebuilt

Foster (26-3, 12 KOs) won the WBC title in 2023. He lost it to Brazil's Robson Conceição and took it back in their November 2024 rematch, then beat Stephen Fulton. Navarrete (40-3-1), a former world champion in three weight classes, loses both belts and suffers the third defeat of his career.

The fight streamed worldwide on DAZN.

Undisputed in sight

Foster now lacks only the WBA belt, held by Northern Ireland's Anthony Cacace (25-1). Cacace is due to defend it in December in Belfast against England's Nick Ball, and Foster said he wants the winner to become undisputed. He also named Shakur Stevenson, the WBO junior welterweight champion, as the fight he wants most once the division is unified.

Promoters have not yet floated a date for a possible four-belt fight.