O’Shaquie Foster and Rey Vargas: Both Have Important Decisions to Make

After the convincing victory by American O’Shaquie Foster against Mexican Rey Vargas on February 11th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, a halo of uncertainty hangs over the immediate future of both fighters.

With an exquisite and solid performance, which included quick leg movements, effective striking and good defense, Foster (20-2, 11 KOs) unanimously defeated the then undefeated and former double world champion Vargas (36-1, 22 KOs), earning him the vacant WBC super featherweight belt.

After the win, Foster commented, “I’ve got a great team around me, and just getting away from the distractions, getting myself mentally and physically right, and now I’m on top, man. It’s crazy.”

The performance of Foster, 29 years old and born in Orange, Texas, was rewarded by the judges with scorecards of 119-109, 117-111 and 116-112, which leaves no room for doubt about what transpired in the ring.

“My coach just kept telling me, ‘Pick it up, he’s ready to go.’ We couldn’t get him out but I just wanted to pick it up in the later rounds and not make it close,” Foster said. “I didn’t think it was close, but my coaches stayed on me to not let off the gas, not make it close. I wanted to close the show.”

Euphoric after the important victory, his tenth in a row, Foster left the possibility open of seeking unification with the other three super featherweight champions, although he is aware that the WBC may require him to defend the belt against some of the best ranked fighters in the world.

Foster said, “I would love to unify, but I think we’ve got two mandatories we’ve got to fulfill. But (Hector Luis) Garcia or (Emanuel) Navarrete, the winner of (Joe) Cordina and (Shavkat) Rakhimov. I feel I can beat anybody.” Dominican southpaw Héctor Luis García (16-1, 10 KOs), Mexican Emanuel Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs), and Tajijistani Shavkat Rakhimov (17-0-1, 14 KOs) are champions of the WBA, WBO and IBF respectively.

However, García, 31 years old and born in San Juan de La Maguana, was anesthetized on January 7th in Washington, DC by the talented American Gervonta “Tank” Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) in an unsuccessful attempt to seize the 135-pound belt.

After the loss, García will be forced to consider whether he should stay in the lightweight category or return to super featherweight, where he would have the chance to cross gloves with Foster or possibly American Lamont Roach (23-1-1, 9 KOs), who is currently ranked first by the WBA.

Rakhimov, who resides in the United States, is not a viable opponent at the moment as he must first defend the title against undefeated Welshman Joe Cordina (15-0, 9 KOs) on April 22 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

Now ranked third in the standings, Cordina was stripped of that belt due to a hand injury during a training session. Then Rakhimov obtained the vacant belt by defeating Brit Zelfa Barrett by technical knockout in the ninth round in November of last year in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

KING VARGAS ON A TIGHTROPE: DOES HE STAY OR RETURN TO FEATHERWEIGHT

Although Foster unquestionably beat Vargas, the former two-time champion of the world believed that the officials were a bit erratic in their appreciation of the fight. “I respect the judges,” Vargas said. “I think this decision was not fair. I don’t agree with it, but I have to respect it. I thought it was much closer than they saw. The weight difference may have affected me tonight. In boxing, you can use your legs to be technical or use them to run. Foster used them to run. He ran all night.”

But the statistics offered by the Compubox company contradict Vargas’ opinion, who was born 31 years ago in the Mexican municipality of Otumba. Foster surpassed Vargas in total punches (144/101), jabs (57/35). and power shots (87/66).

Before the fight there were endless comments about the future of Vargas, who repeated over and over again that only after dealing with Foster would he make a decision regarding staying at 130 pounds or returning to the featherweight division where he holds the WBC belt.

Vargas stated, “the featherweight title is absolutely still mine, so no worries about that. As far as 130, this is definitely an interesting challenge, an interesting place to be. We haven’t really decided what we’re gonna do afterwards, but we’re focused on the moment right now. Let’s focus on this fight, on this great crowd that we’re gonna be in front of, and then whatever happens, it will come after this fight.”

The loss to Foster prevented Vargas from adding a third belt in three separate weight divisions. In February 2017, he won the WBC super-bantamweight belt after defeating Britain’s Gavin McDonnell (22-2-3, 6 KOs) by majority decision. Four years later, in November 2021, in his second fight at 126 pounds, Vargas defeated Mark Magsayo (24-1-, 16 KOs) by split decision at the Alamodome in San Antonio,Texas, where Magsayo was making his first defense of the WBC belt.

Photo credit: Amanda Westcott / SHOWTIME

Article submitted by Jorge Juan Álvarez in Spanish.

Please note any adjustments made were for clarification purposes and any errors in translation were unintentional.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE