Boxing Results: O’Shaquie Foster Shocks The World

Subscribe now O’Shaquie Foster celebrates his win (Photo Credit: Top Rank Boxing) He shocked the world For those who knew junior lightweight O’Shaquie Foster, it wasn’t a surprise; for the rest, it was a shock. Foster didn’t just beat Emanuel Navarrete; he made him look foolish en route to a 12-round unanimous decision win. The victory was capped off by Foster dropping Navarrete in the final round, twice. The first blow from a right hand when he timed Navarrete coming in appeared to affect Navarrete’s knee. In a fight billed as a “Fight of the Year,” it was far from that. Foster displayed his full ability and probably wrapped up “Fighter of the Year” honors; albeit Naoya Inoue’s win over Junto Nakatani is impressive. It was a crowning achievement, where Foster won the fight to garner the respect he always deserved. On the undercard: San Antonio, we have a featherweight contender. Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez stopped the usually durable Edward Vazquez in two rounds. The telling blow, a left hook to the body. Gonzalez is good… real good. He called for a title shot after this fight, and I think he has earned it, as only he and WBO featherweight titleholder Rafael Espinoza. Gonzalez also offered to fight Espinoza next week in Saudi Arabia. Probably not possible, but in an era of fighters not being active, the gesture is appreciated by a fight fan. Welterweight Frank Martin made his Top Rank debut. He stopped Tarik Zaina in the seventh round. It wasn’t good until it was. Martin believed in his power and that he is a puncher. Then delivered. Martin was on his way to a win today, a look-good-tomorrow type victory, only to To start the DAZN telecast, lightweight Deric “Scooter” Davis won an eight-round unanimous decision over Joaquin Faccio. Davis has potential, as the Barry Hunter-trained fighter showed early promise, but after a close fight in July, and now a ho-hum performance against a 22-year-old who fought like a veteran. After 10 straight knockouts, Davis now has recorded three straight decision wins, all coming when he made the jump into eight-round bouts. Davis replaced Steven Navarro-Emanuel Moreno after Navarro missed weight and the two teams couldn’t agree to terms for the fight to move forward. On the early prelims, we saw good fighters tested. Junior featherweight Daniel Cortez III won a split decision against Joshua Montoya. Montoya had some cool dance moves coming to the ring and tested the local fighter, with some believing Montoya should’ve won. Lightweight Sammy Contreras won a six-round unanimous decision over Oscar Pedroza Padilla. Contreras was in complete control, but appeared to get rocked in the third round. Contreras went from looking like he was going to get a stoppage to battling adversity. Junior middleweight Joseph Almajdi won a six-round unanimous decision over Miqal Dolphus. Almajdi had to work hard for the victory, but took over in the final rounds. Smith wins, but … That won’t feel great. Those are my first thoughts on Dalton Smith’s first junior welterweight title defense against Alberto Puello. He won a split decision in his hometown. Puello troubled him for most of the fight. It was close, but it felt like it was contested at Puello’s pace, and not Smith’s; often a good indicator of who won. The end result: Questions about Smith. He stopped Subriel Matias to win the belt in January, and looks to be a star for Matchroom Boxing. This win keeps him in that position, but boy, was it close. For Puello, he could make a case that he should be undefeated, as both of his losses to Smith and Matias are disputed (the Matias fight was a majority decision). The loss truly stings for Puello, who becomes a high-risk, low-reward contender, whereas Smith will need to improve to have a long title reign… Even if you felt he won. Full transparency, I scored the bout 115-113 for Puello. That said, Puello could have done more. It just is the type of fight where it hurts the momentum of both fighters. Smith will be questioned on how good he is, and Puello could easily be avoided. On the undercard: Lightweight Giorgio Visioli, an unbeaten prospect, won a majority decision over veteran Maxi Hughes. Even though Visioli won a close fight, my takeaway is how cool Hughes is. He refuses to be a gatekeeper, and even though he “lost”, they was he did so via a majority decision will hurt some of the luster of Visioli’s career. I thought the 23-year-old Visioli edged a 96-94 fight, but it also showed that he is very young in the game and isn’t ready for title fights yet. Junior bantamweight Shannon Ryan avenged her lone career loss in dramatic fashion, as she stopped Emma Dolan in the first round. For Dolan, it is back-to-back stoppage losses. This one especially damning as she was dropped twice, and stopped in 0:46 seconds. Opening the telecast, 19-year-old heavyweight prospect Leo Atang stopped Jonathan Exequiel Vergara in one round. Other notable results: In a Northeastern junior middleweight rematch, Jahyae Brown outlasted Anthony Vieira to win a unanimous decision. The first fight was a classic, and the second one was just as good.