By: Sean Crose
You know you’re in a relevant fight when none other than Vasyl Lomachenko wants to battle the winner. That was the case Saturday night in Texas, as Emanuel Navarrete squared off against O’Shaquie Foster for three of the four world titles in the junior lightweight division. The hard hitting Navarrete held the WBO and IBF belts while the slick Foster held the WBC title belt. The fight, which was scheduled for 12 championship rounds, was the main event of a card broadcast live by the DAZN streaming service. It was also one of the most interesting matches of the year – power versus skill at the highest levels of the sport.
The opening round saw Navarrete reaching a bit with his punches while Foster was able to land once or twice effectively. Still, Navarrete was applying a considerable amount of pressure on his opponent. Foster began putting his punches together early in the second – something of a surprise. Seconds later, Navarrete began charging his opponent with even greater energy than he had previously exuded. Things had taken somewhat of a wild turn. So aggressive was Navarrete in the third that he may well have taken the round from the sharper shooting Foster.
If there was a flaw to Foster’s game it was evident in the fourth – He wasn’t nearly as active as Navarrete was. Such things might have later impacted the judges. Foster started the fifth in a brief state of effective aggression. Navarrete, however, was soon in pursuit seconds later. Still, aggressive though he was, Navarrete rarely landed clean. It was no doubt a challenging fight for the judges to score. The bout actually slowed down a bit in the sixth, which was understandable when one considered how high octane the previous rounds had been. Still, by round’s end, Navarrete was able to nail his man with a solid left.
With that being said, the early portions of the seventh made it obvious that Foster threw the cleaner punches. Navarrete was aggressive, but Foster was sharp. The eighth was close but Foster may well have edged it thanks to fighting Navarrete in close. Sure enough Navarrete looked to be running low on gas in the ninth. His punches were slower than they had been earlier in the fight and the same could be said of his footwork. Meanwhile, Foster remained measured and effective in his strategy. Indeed, the American looked to be pulling away from Navarrete in the tenth, appearing completely in control.
Yet Navarrete went on to have a good eleventh round for himself, throwing and landing relatively well. The question was – Was it too little, too late at that point of the fight? The twelfth and final round saw Foster drop Navarrete thanks to a series of punches. Navarrete got to his feet looking no worse for wear, but it was obvious the fight was Foster’s, who was now clearly looking for a knockout or stoppage. Sure enough he dropped Navarrete a second time later in the round. Navarrete got up and bravely fought on but the night belonged to Foster, who was awarded a decision win from the judges after the round was over.
Now the unified junior lightweight champion of the world, Foster can bask at the top of the divisional heap. Navarrete was good, but Foster was clearly better Saturday evening in Texas. The truth is, Foster is a hard guy to dislike. There was no nastiness in the post-fight interview for instance, just graciousness and good sportsmanship. Boxing needs more of that. The tough guy stuff can be saved for the ring.
