O’Shaquie Foster believes it’s time for him to take his place among the best
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O’Shaquie Foster’s dreams of becoming a world champion seemed unrealistic in the mid-2010s.
The one-time U.S. amateur star from Texas lost two decisions in a span of four fights, against Samuel Teah in 2015 and Rolando Chinea the follow year that left his career at a crossroads.
Well, he evidently took the right path when things looked bleakest. He took 17 months off, revamped his team (he’s now trained by Bobby Benton) and eliminated distractions by moving from his hometown of Orange to Houston.
The result? He hasn’t lost since the Chinea fight, a run that has led to a meeting with Rey Vargas for a vacant 130-pound title Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio (Showtime).
That’s not to say that his career has gone perfectly – he has fought only twice since 2019 because of a promotional dispute – but he’s exactly where he wants to be at this moment.
“I had to get with a team that believed in me, that knew me,” Foster told me and Kenneth Bouhairie on The PBC Podcast. “… That’s really the ultimate thing, having the right team around me, to [realize] my potential.
“… I always knew I had it. It was just circumstances.”
Foster (19-2, 11 KOs) hasn’t been as active as he would’ve liked the past few years but he has delivered some notable victories.
Unanimous decisions in 2018 over Frank De Alba and then-unbeaten Jon Fernandez in his first 10-rounder and a ninth-round knockout of veteran Miguel Roman in 2020 stand out. He looked like a contender in all those victories.
In other words, he didn’t come out of nowhere to get his opportunity on Saturday.
“I worked for this moment my entire life,” he said. “… For me it has been a step-by-step thing. I went to Pennsylvania right after I got started [again] and fought as the “B” side in [De Alba’s] hometown with his promoter and beat him. Jon Fernandez was supposed to be this big monster on ShoBox – he was [16-0, with 14] knockouts – and I went and beat him.
“It was definitely step by step getting me prepared for this moment.”
Of course, Vargas (36-0, 22 KOs) represents a significant step up in opposition even though the Mexican will be making his debut at 130 pounds.
Foster wasn’t overly impressed with Vargas’ victory over Mark Magsayo to win a 126-pound belt last June – giving him titles in a second division – because he believes Magsayo is limited. At the same time, as Foster put it, “He got the job done.”
And, yes, he acknowledges that the most difficult challenge of his career is days away.
“Yeah, I feel like he’s the toughest test being that he’s a two-time world champion. And I’ll be fighting for a world title,” Foster said.
At the same time, the 29-year-old doesn’t seem to be fazed by the moment. He had a lot of important fights in his amateur career, during which he took part in the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials. And he’s endured ups and downs as a professional for more than a decade.
A big fight, even a title fight, isn’t going to rattle him.
“I’m ready,” he said. “Words can’t really explain it. It just took so much for me to get to this point. I just feel like it’s [the] time for me to show the world.”
