O’Shaquie Foster will be getting an opportunity to win back his WBC super featherweight title against champion Robson Conceição in their rematch on November 2nd at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. The event will be shown live on ESPN+.
Foster’s Bitterness
Foster was pretty bitter about losing to Conceicao on July 6th, believing he’d done enough to rate a victory despite being dominated by the Brazilian throughout the 12-round fight. It’s unclear if Foster really thinks he won or if he’s saying it because he can make more money as the champion.
Either way, Foster didn’t look like he’d won, and there’s no robbery involved with Conceicao getting the business in the rematch. The Brazilian has already been given a bad deal in two notable fights against Emanuel Navarrete and Oscar Valdez.
In the chief support fight, lightweight contender Raymond Muratalla (21-0, 16 KOs) will battle the struggling Jesus Perez (25-5, 18 KOs) in a 10-round contest.
Foster, 30, lost his WBC 130-lb title earlier this year, losing a 12-round split decision to the 2016 Olympic gold medalist Conceicao on July 6th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
A Fair Decision for Conceição
Many Foster fans made a big stir about his loss, feeling that he’d done enough to deserve the win. It didn’t look that way. Foster was outworked, outfought, and outclassed by Conceicao. The scores were 116-112, 115-113 for Conceicao, and 116-112 for Foster.
It’s easy to see why Foster lost because he was outworked 90% of every round and only fought hard in the final seconds. The judges finally gave Conceicao, who had been robbed in his fights against Emanuel Navarrete and Oscar Valdez in the last three years, a fair shake.
There really isn’t a need for a rematch because Conceicao deserved the win, and Foster had sour grapes, unable to admit that he didn’t put out enough effort to win.
In that fight, we saw Foster seem to mimic Shakur Stevenson in his approach to fighting. He focuses on not getting hit and looks to win rounds by landing a tiny handful of shots. This approach doesn’t work when Foster’s opponents outwork and outland him throughout the rounds.
Foster had been coming off a very questionable 12-round split decision against Abraham Nova last April in a fight that he appeared to lose but was bailed out by the judges. Nova outworked Foster the entire fight and looked like he deserved a win. Foster used the same defensive approach against Coneicao, and the judges didn’t save him this time.
Nova’s Unfinished Business
Also on the November 2nd undercard is Abraham Nova (23-3, 16 KOs), who I previously mentioned deserved a victory over Foster earlier this year on February 16th at Madison Square Garden in New York. Nova will fight Humberto Galindo (14-3-2, 11 KOs) in a 10-round bout. You can argue that Nova should have already gotten a rematch against O’Shaquie Foster because he deserved the win.
“I will show why I’m the true champion. My team and I have worked tirelessly, and I’m confident our efforts will be rewarded again. Foster, don’t run in the ring! See you in Verona,” said Conceicao.
