Robson Conceicao lectured O’Shaquie Foster on the value of hard work in their final press conference today ahead of the defense of his WBC super featherweight title in their rematch on Saturday.
Credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank Boxing)
The two meet this Saturday, November 2, at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. Conceicao wants to finish what he started, work out the slacker Foster and show that you have to work hard to be a world champion. He has the Brazilian hardworking attitude.
Former WBC champion Foster (22-3, 12 KOs) admitted he didn’t want to bother letting his hands go to silence the cheering crowd in their fight earlier this year on July 6 in Newark, New Jersey . and eventually lost a 12-round split decision.
Foster still couldn’t understand why he lost after all these months, and he kept complaining that he should have won. During today’s press conference, Brazilian Conceicao (19-2-1, 9) explained to Foster, like a trainer talking to one of his fighters, that he wasn’t throwing enough punches and was just running around the ring.
He didn’t want to work hard and thought he could win by hitting and running. He seemed to turn into Shakur Stevenson and forgot that the judges weren’t going to give him the same favorable A-side treatment he did.
“This fight is personal to me because I feel that a champion is a fighter who goes out there and doesn’t run around, who looks for the fight, who tries to win, and doesn’t just throw one or two punches and then walk away,” Conceicao said about Foster.
I don’t think Foster can work harder than him. Foster doesn’t seem to have the fight left in him after his war with slugger Eduardo Hernandez on October 28 last year in Cancun, Mexico. Hernandez hurt Foster with big shots several times in that fight, forcing him to pull away in the 12th round to get a knockout. Even with all the defensive work Foster put in, he was hit hard by Hernandez.
That fight took a lot out of the 31-year-old Foster, who hasn’t looked like the same fighter since his bouts against Abraham Nova and Conceicao. In both of those contests, Foster didn’t let his hand go, and on a lot of big shots.
Nova put it on Foster from rounds eight to twelve and did more than enough to defeat him earlier this year on February 16th. The judges gave Foster a 12-round split decision, but he deserved a loss. It was the same situation when Foster fought Conceicao. He didn’t throw, and it was all he could do to squeeze out a few shots. It goes back to the Eduardo Hernandez fight. He took something from Foster.
“This time I have no doubt in my mind that I will do a better job and represent Brazil better,” Conceicao told the media about his reunion with Foster. “I didn’t feel much strength. He has good defense and a good jab; he is very technical but not very powerful.
“Foster’s defense is complicated and challenging. If he says he’s going to come hit more, that’s what I expect. If that’s the case, it’s going to be a lot more interesting. It was the battle I prepared myself for the first time.”
Foster can’t strike anymore because he’s not an emerging type of fighter. He can fight just like he did against Eduardo Hernandez in the 12th round, but that was a rare opportunity. He doesn’t fight like that and never has. If he tried to fight Conceicao like that, he would be knocked out.
“If he does it the second time, great,” Conceicao said. “That’s what I’d like to see as well, because it would be a much more interesting fight and better for the public. I’m ready Let’s see if he does it this time. I’m ready
“I feel this fight will be tougher and much more competitive, and that’s what I feel,” Conceicao said.
