The American Super Featherweight fighter, O’Shaquie Foster, made his mark in the boxing world by participating in and winning his first world title bout against the current WBC Featherweight champion, Rey Vargas. The bout, which was held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on February 11th, was for the vacant WBC Super Featherweight title, which was left up for grabs after Shakur Stevenson moved up to the lightweight division.
O’Shaquie Foster’s (20-2, 11 KO’s) performance in the ring was nothing short of remarkable as he controlled the pace of the fight and dominated the incumbent Featherweight champion for all 12 rounds, leading to a unanimous decision win with scorecards reading 117-111, 119-109, and 116-112. Despite being the underdog, Foster proved his mettle by putting up a praiseworthy boxing performance and outclassing the favored Rey Vargas (36-1, 22 KO’s), who is the current holder of the WBC title at 126 lbs and had defeated several top opponents in that weight class, all while remaining unbeaten.
This win not only cements O’Shaquie Foster’s position as a formidable fighter in the boxing world but also serves as a testament to his talent and determination. The victory over the reigning champion will certainly be a career-defining moment for Foster and will go down in history as one of the most exciting and memorable moments in boxing.
Despite suffering the first loss of his career, Rey Vargas – as the WBC Featherweight Champion – can still look to dominate his own division after testing the waters in the weight class above. After WBO champion Emmanuel Navarrette’s (37-1, 31 KO’s) and IBF champion Luis Lopez’s (27-2, 15 KO’s) recent victories, the division now sees a total of three Mexicans as world champions, leading to an opportunity for either of the four champions to face each other in the near future. Leigh Wood (26-2, 16 KO’s), the only British champion in the division, holds the WBA (Super) title, but faces a tough roadblock in Mauricio Lara (25-2-1, 18 KO’s), another Mexican who is considered the best active Featherweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
Wood and Lara will be facing each other in less than a week on Saturday, February 18th, at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England, to settle the WBA championship. If Lara wins, the division might seen an unprecedented show of four Mexican champions holding all the available world titles.
Also featured on the fight card was the co-main event of Heavyweight prospects Lenior Pero (9-0, 6 KO’s) and Viktor Vykhryst (11-1 , 7 KO’s) who had both been unbeaten before facing each other, and both had noteworthy amateur careers. Pero got the better Vykhryst, stopping him in the 8th round when Vyykhryst seemingly gave up by dropping his hands and walking away, forcing the referee to intercede when Pero started pummeling the defenseless Vykhryst.
Mario Barrios (27-2, 18 KO’s), best known for his two back-to-back losses to Gervonta Davis (28-0, 26 KO’s) and Keith Thurman (30-1, 22 KO’s), made netted his first win after approximately a year and a half by stopping Jovanie Santiago (14-3-1, 10 KO’s) in the 8th round of their 10-round bout.
Dainier Pero (3-0, 2 KO’s), Lenier Pero’s younger brother, was also featured on the undercard and fought to a decision victory for the first time of his career against Daniel Zavala (2-2-2, 0 KO’s). It was a slightly disappointing performance for Dainier Pero, given his brother’s momentous victory against a credible opponent.
