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How O’Shaquie Foster’s Long, Dark Night Led to A Brighter Future
O’Shaquie Foster was sitting alone in the dark on an unforgiving concrete floor in a Texas jail cell. Sweltering heat. No windows. No lights. The power had been out for over half a week now, and there was no window by which a gentle breeze might offer even the slightest comfort.
“I couldn’t even see my hands,” remembered Foster. “They were handing us food, and I couldn’t even eat it. It was so crazy. It was so bad.”
Foster was in for a shooting incident that had left one man wounded and the other, Foster, in jail. Being trapped inside a cage is bad enough, but Hurricane Harvey had made things so much worse that summer after it tore through the Texas Gulf Coast like a runaway jackhammer in the hands of a madman scattering ruthless devastation all around the state.
To make matters worse, Orange County officials had been divorced enough from compassion, or at least languishing far enough away from the sound shores of reason, that they hadn’t seen fit to evacuate the prisoners to safer quarters.
But sometimes, even in the most dire circumstance, all the universe conspires to give a person the opportunity to discover a new point of view, one that might otherwise have gone unseen.
So here in this horrible moment was where Foster, stuck in the stuffy darkness made worse by the third 500-year flood in just three years, at long last considered what he had been doing with his one and only life before and what he could have been doing with it instead.
“It just opened my eyes,” said Foster, who just a few days prior had watched Terence Crawford become the undisputed junior welterweight champion of the world on the jailhouse community television set.
Foster said he knew he had that kind of ability, the kind that Crawford used to fight out of Nebraska. But there was Crawford on a grand stage making the most out of his life, and here sat Foster among the prisoners.
Foster had been an alternate for the 2012 Olympic team. Just 17 years old at the time of the Olympic Trials, Foster, a fighter from Orange, Texas, aka the tiny East Texas town hardly any good boxer had ever come from, almost did the unthinkable when he came within three points of upsetting Joseph Diaz to make the team.
To this day, Foster still believes he deserved to win that fight. While it would have been an upset, it wouldn’t have been considered a fluke. After all, Foster had won nearly 200 bouts as an amateur, was a two-time national Jr. Golden Gloves champion, a five-time Ringside national champion and the 2011 PAL national champion.
But coming oh-so-close to beating Diaz, and feeling as if maybe USA Boxing officials had purposely made sure he didn’t, Foster declared himself a professional with no real connections to that world and no big plan.
“Yeah, I was pretty salty.”
To make matters worse, Foster’s local gym in Orange closed right after the Olympic trials had ended. So as Foster was attempting to launch his professional fighting career, he had to do so with a very limited support network and virtually no place to train.
Foster briefly moved to Houston, but after winning his first few professional fights, he ended up back in his hometown again where he admitted he really didn’t focus all that much on his craft.
“I wasn’t training like I was supposed to,” said Foster. “I was still stuck in the hood where I grew up, but I was still taking fights and I was winning for as long as I could.”
Sometimes an unexpected setback can lead to a personal breakthrough. Other times, it takes multiple difficulties for a person to make whatever connection he or she needs to make that giant leap forward.
For Foster, despite losing in 2015 to Samuel Teah and in 2016 to Rolando Chinea, the fighter didn’t really make his big personal decision to turn his life around until that long, dark night in a Texas jail cell. It was at that moment that Foster decided what he would do the minute he got out of there.
“I came straight here,” said Foster, pointing down at the ground while standing next to a well-worn punching bag at Main Street Boxing and Muay Thai Gym in Houston.
“It changed my whole life. I stayed away from the hood. I didn’t go to my hometown for like a year. It was a while before I went back, and I just changed my whole environment.”
Foster has since become one of boxing’s best-known spoilers. Trained by Bobby Benton and Aaron Navarro, the now completely dedicated fighter has won five straight bouts, including twice as an underdog, most recently upsetting previously undefeated Spanish prospect Jon Fernandez.
That win netted Foster the WBC silver junior lightweight title, along with a top ten ranking from that organization and a well-deserved homecoming bout just 30 minutes west of his hometown in Beaumont in February. More importantly, this newfound dedication to living his best life, one that includes fully devoting himself to professional boxing, is turning him into the fighter he always believed he could be.
And all that Foster has planned next is more of the same.
“We’re trying to take over one fight at a time,” said Foster.
Benton said Foster reminded him a lot of his other star pupil, 140-pound titleholder Regis Prograis. In fact, the 40-year-old trainer said he remembered meeting both fighters when they were young, and that he knew upon seeing each that they possessed real potential.
“I’ve known O’Shaquie since he was eight years old,” said Benton. “Even back then, I knew he was special.”
Benton isn’t one to overpromote, so if he says Foster, a two-loss fighter from Orange, can seriously compete for a world title at 130 pounds; he really believes it.
“This kid’s really got it,” said Benton. “Listen, at the point he’s at right now, nobody is going to beat him.”
Just two years ago, that kind of talk about Foster would be laughable to anyone but Foster, who said he always believed he could make it, and maybe his manager, Keith Mills, who Foster said always stuck by him even during difficult times.
And who knows what might happen? Maybe someday soon, Foster will be the one on a grand stage helping inspire another lost and wayward soul who needs to make some really big changes in his life.
Maybe Foster can really be like Crawford.
“Nah,” said Foster, owning his incredible power of self-belief, that same energy which gave him hope during an incredibly difficult situation two years ago and led him out of the darkness into the light of a brighter future.
“I’m going to be better than that. I’m better than Terence Crawford.”
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Women’s Prizefighting Year End Review: The Best of the Best in 2024
Women’s Prizefighting Year End Review: The Best of the Best in 2024
It’s the end of the year.
Here are our awards for the best in women’s boxing. But first, a rundown on the state of the sport.
Maybe its my imagination but it seems that fewer female fights of magnitude took place in 2024 than in previous years.
A few promoters like 360 Promotions increased their involvement in women’s boxing while others such as Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions seem stagnant. They are still staging female bouts but are not signing new additions.
American-based promotion company Top Rank, actually lost 50 percent of their female fighter roster when Seniesa Estrada, the undisputed minimumweight champion, retired recently. They still have Mikaela Mayer.
A promotion company making headlines and creating sparks in the boxing world is Most Valuable Promotions led by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian. They signed Amanda Serrano and have invested in staging other female fights
This year, the top streaming company Netflix gambled on sponsoring Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson, along with Amanda Serrano versus Katie Taylor and hit a monster home run. According to Netflix metrics an estimated 74 million viewers watched the event that took place on Nov. 16 at Arlington, Texas.
“Breaking records like this is exactly what MVP was built to do – bring the biggest, most electrifying events to fans worldwide,” said Nakisa Bidarian co-founder of MVP.
History was made in viewership and at the gate where more than 70,000 fans packed AT&T Stadium for a record-setting $17.8 million in ticket sales outside of Las Vegas. It was the grand finale moment of the year.
Here are the major contributors to women’s boxing in 2024.
Fighter of the Year: Amanda Serrano
Other candidates: Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields, Franchon Crews, Dina Thorslund, and Yesica Nery Plata.
Amanda Serrano was chosen for not only taking part in the most viewed female title fight in history, but also for willingly sacrificing the health of her eye after suffering a massive cut during her brutal war with Taylor. She could have quit, walked away with tons of money and be given the technical decision after four rounds. She was ahead on the scorecards at that moment.
Instead, Serrano took more punches, more head butts and slugged her way through 10 magnificent and brilliant rounds against the great Taylor. Fans worldwide were captivated by their performance. Many women who had never watched a female fight were mesmerized and inspired.
Serrano once again proved that she would die in the ring rather than quit. Women and men were awed by her performance and grit. It was a moment blazed in the memories of millions.
Amanda Serrano is the Fighter of the Year.
Best Fight of the Year – Amanda Serrano versus Katie Taylor 2
Their first fight that took place two years ago in Madison Square Garden was the greatest female fight I had ever witnessed. The second fight surpassed it.
When you have two of the best warriors in the world willing to showcase their talent for entertainment regardless of the outcome, it’s like rubbing two sticks of dynamite together.
Serrano jumped on Taylor immediately and for about 20 seconds it looked like the Irish fighter would not make the end of the first round. Not quite. Taylor rallied behind her stubborn determination and pulled out every tool in her possession: elbows, head butts, low blows, whatever was needed to survive, Taylor used.
It reminded me of an old world title fight in 2005 between Jose Luis Castillo a master of fighting dirty and Julio Diaz. I asked about the dirty tactics by Castillo and Diaz simply said, “It’s a fight. It’s not chess. You do what you have to do.”
Taylor did what she had to do to win and the world saw a magnificent fight.
Other candidates: Seniesa Estrada versus Yokasta Valle, Mikaela Mayer versus Sandy Ryan, and Ginny Fuchs vs Adelaida Ruiz.
KO of the Year – Lauren Price KO3 Bexcy Mateus.
Dec. 14, in Liverpool, England.
The IBO welterweight titlist lowered the boom on Bexcy Mateus sending her to the floor thrice. She ended the fight with a one-two combination that left Mateus frozen while standing along the ropes. Another left cross rocket blasted her to the ground. Devastating.
Other candidates: Claressa Shields KO of Vanessa LePage-Joanisse, Gabriela Fundora KO of Gabriela Alaniz, Dina Thorslund vs Mary Romero, Amanda Serrano KO of Stevie Morgan.
Pro’s Pro Award – Jessica Camara
Jessica Camara defeated Hyun Mi Choi in South Korea to win the WBA gold title on April 27, 2024. The match took place in Suwon where Canada’s Camara defeated Choi by split decision after 10 rounds.
Camara, who is managed by Brian Cohen, has fought numerous champions including Kali Reis, Heather Hardy and Melissa St. Vil. She has become a pro fighter that you know will be involved in a good and entertaining fight and is always in search of elite competition. She eagerly accepted the fight in South Korea against Choi. Few fighters are willing to do that.
Next up for Camara is WBC titlist Caroline Dubois set for Jan. 11, in Sheffield, England.
Electric Fighters Club
These are women who never fail to provide excitement and drama when they step in the prize ring. When you only have two-minute rounds there’s no time to run around the boxing ring.
Here are some of the fighters that take advantage of every second and they do it with skill:
Gabriela Fundora, Mizuki Hiruta, Ellie Scotney, Lauren Price, Clara Lescurat, Adelaida Ruiz, Ginny Fuchs, Mikaela Mayer, Yokasta Valle, Sandy Ryan, Chantelle Cameron, Ebanie Bridges, Tsunami Tenkai, Dina Thorslund, Evelin Bermudez, Gabriela Alaniz, Caroline Dubois, Beatriz Ferreira, and LeAnna Cruz.
Claressa Shields Movie and More
A motion picture based on Claressa Shields titled “The Fire Inside” debuts on Wednesday, Dec. 25, nationwide. Most boxing fans know that Shields has world titles in various weight divisions. But they don’t know about her childhood and how she rose to fame.
Also, Shields (15-0, 3 KOs) will be fighting Danielle Perkins (5-0, 2 KOs) for the undisputed heavyweight world championship on Sunday Feb. 2, at Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan. DAZN will stream the Salita Promotions fight card.
“Claressa Shields is shining a spotlight on Flint – first on the big screen and then in the ring on Sunday, February 2,” said event promoter Dmitriy Salita, president of Salita Promotions. “Claressa leads by example. She is a trailblazer and has been an advocate for equality since she was a young lady. This event promises to be one of the most significant sporting and cultural events of the year. You don’t want to miss it, either live, in person or live on DAZN.”
Shields is only 29 years old and turns 30 next March. What more can she accomplish?
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Lucas Bahdi Forged the TSS 2024 Knockout of the Year
A Knockout of the Year doesn’t have to be a one-punch knockout, but it must arrive with the suddenness of a thunderclap on a clear day and the punch or punches must be so harsh as to obviate the need for a “10-count.” And, if rendered by an underdog, that makes the KO resonate more loudly.
Within these parameters, Lucas Bahdi’s knockout of Ashton “H2O” Sylva still jumped off the page. The thunderclap happened on July 20 in Tampa, Florida, on a show promoted by Jake Paul with Paul and the great Amanda Serrano sharing the bill against soft opponents in the featured bouts.
The 30-year-old Bahdi (16-0, 14 KOs) and the 20-year-old Sylva (11-0, 9 KOs) were both undefeated, but Bahdi was accorded scant chance of defeating Jake Paul’s house fighter.
Sylva was 18 years old and had seven pro fights under his belt, winning all inside the distance, when he signed with Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions, in 2022. “We believe that Ashton has that talent, that flashiness, that style, that knockout power, that charisma to really be a massive, massive, superstar…” said the “Problem Child” when announcing that Sylva had signed with his company.
Jake Paul was so confident that his protege would accomplish big things that he matched Sylva with Floyd “Kid Austin” Schofield. Currently 18-0 and ranked #2 by the WBA, Schofield was further along than Sylva in the pantheon of hot lightweight prospects. But Schofield backed out, alleging an injury, opening the door to a substitute.
Enter Lucas Bahdi who despite his eye-catching record was a virtual unknown. This would be his first outing on U.S. soil. All of his previous bouts were staged in Mexico or in Canada, mostly in his native Ontario province. “My opponent may have changed,” said Sylva who hails from Long Beach, California, “but the result will be the same, I will get the W and continue my path to greatness.”
The first five rounds were all Sylva. The Canadian had no antidote for Sylva’s speed and quickness. He was outclassed.
Then, in round six, it all came unglued for the precocious California. Out of the blue, Bahdi stiffened him with a hard right hand. Another right quickly followed, knocking Sylva unconscious. A third punch, a sweeping left, was superfluous. Jake Paul’s phenom was already out cold.
Sylva landed face-first on the canvas. He lay still as his handlers and medics rushed to his aid. It was scarifying. “May God restore him,” said ring announcer Joe Martinez as he was being stretchered out of the ring.
The good news is that Ashton “H2O” Silva will be able to resume his career. He is expected back in the ring as early as February. As for Lucas Bahdi, architect of the Knockout of the Year, he has added one more win to his ledger, winning a 10-round decision on the undercard of the Paul vs Tyson spectacle, and we will presumably be hearing a lot more about him.
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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.
The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.
Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.
The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.
An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.
Moses Itauma
Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.
His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.
Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.
Bohachuk-Davis
In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.
Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.
Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.
Fisher-Allen
In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.
Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.
In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.
He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.
Other Bouts of Note
In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.
A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.
In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.
McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.
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