O’Shaquie Foster (22-3, 12 KOs) will face WBC super featherweight champion Robson Conceição (19-2-1, 9 KOs) in a rematch on November 2nd on ESPN+ in Verona, New York.
Former WBC 130-lb champion Foster, 30, is getting a second chance after the WBC ordered the rematch due to outcry from him and his fans.
Foster’s passive style leads to defeat
Foster couldn’t let go and was taken out by the ambitious, motivated 2016 Olympic gold medalist Conceicao in their July 6 showdown at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
“I do think I won the fight,” Conceicao said of his fight with Foster. “He didn’t come to fight. He ran and ran. I was the winner.”
I had Conceicao win 11-1, which was an easy battle to score. He pressed the fight in every round as Foster stayed against the ropes, trying to make Conceicao miss and fighting short spurts. If you’re a trainer, you have to let your fighters know that they can’t fight like Foster did and expect to be given decision wins when they face someone who fights hard and pushes.
Foster was handed a questionable 12-round split decision in his previous fight against Abraham Nova last February when he was similarly outworked. In the end, Nova Foster completely worked out and looked like the winner, but they gave it to the Texas native.
Can Foster adapt?
Foster must have learned from that contest that he can’t fight like that and expect to get questionable decisions over and over again. Beating Nova by a razor-close controversial decision was a red flag that Foster needed to change the way he fights in his bout with Conceicao, but he didn’t.
Foster fought like a carbon copy of Shakur Stevenson, playing it safe by moving back three feet to stay out of the way all night, but he couldn’t fight. Afterwards, Foster looked in denial, unable to realize that he had fought scared and let the motivated Brazilian Conceicao work him out.
I watched the Foster vs. Conceicao twice and it was easy to score. Olympic gold medalist Conceicao knew how to win by outworking Foster, who apparently thought he would get a win against the cheapest by playing it safe, with his Shakur-esque style, and thought the judges would appreciate it.
If Foster doesn’t change his safety-first Shakur-esque fighting style, he will lose the rematch with Conceicao, and his career will sink into the mud. I don’t think Foster can change. He doesn’t have the dog in him to fight tough guys like Conceicao, Anthony Cacace or Emanuel Navarrete.
 will face WBC super featherweight champion Robson Conceição (19-2-1, 9 KOs) in a rematch on November 2nd on ESPN+ in Verona,){kind=link}