O'Shaquie Foster: Fighter of the Year After Career-Best Performance?

O'Shaquie Foster delivered a career-best performance, dominating in front of a raucous, partisan crowd in San Antonio.

The match-up between Emmanuel Navarrete and O'Shaquie Foster lived up to the hype. Had Navarrete won, you could make a case for him as fighter of the year. Navarrete did well early and landed a handful of his looping outside uppercuts.

Down on the cards going into the 12th, he really went for it, hoping to score a come-from-behind stoppage.

Instead, Foster scored two knockdowns in the final round with powerful punches to seal the deal. He won 118–108 on two scorecards. The final scorecard was 115–111. Foster now holds the WBC, WBO, and IBF titles at 130 pounds, as well as The Ring championship.

True, Foster is from Texas, but this was a road win, with much of the crowd wearing cowboy hats as Navarrette fans. El Vaquero encouraged them by throwing his own black hat into the crowd after his post-fight interview, in which he conceded that Foster was the better fighter on Saturday.

Foster is an old-school fighter who is confident and cool in the ring. He isn't a social media guru; he's a gym rat who has punished himself in the gym on his way to two dominant wins that should seal the deal for the "Fighter of the Year" Accolade.

Did O'Shaquie Foster make his cae for Fighter Of The Year?

Sure, it's not entirely a one-horse race. Ryan Garcia won his first major world title with a dominant win over Mario Barrios and stopped Connor Benn in two rounds in his first defense. The first was a legitimate win; the second, a money grab.

The other name to consider is the Monster himself, David Benevidez, who knocked out Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez in six rounds to become WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion. Benevidez faces Michal Cieslak for the WBC cruiserweight title in Glendale, Arizona.

Even if Ramirez wins quickly in December, you have to put O'Shaquie Foster first given the caliber of his wins against former champions Emmanuel Navarrette and Raymond Ford.

Out of the gate, Shakur Stevenson was a contender after defeating Teofimo Lopez in January. Since then, Stevenson has been missing from the ring, while rival Foster has been getting it done.

Many big fights have fizzled out this year, but Foster got it done, and has big plans going forward. We don’t need to be panegyric. We need more fighters like Foster who let their fists do the talking.

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