By Dan Ambrose: Rey Vargas (36-2, 22 KOs) will be looking to capture his third division world title this Saturday, February 11, when he faces #1 O’Shaquie Foster (19-2, 11 KOs) for the vacant WBC super featherweight title in a 12-round fight, live on Showtime at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The 29-year-old Foster comes into the contest with a nine-fight winning streak since his loss to Rolando Chinea in 2016. Foster is fighting at a high level and not the same fighter that lost to Chinea and Samuel Teah.
Vargas, 5’10”, will be fighting in Foster’s backyard, so it’ll be interesting to see how he deals with the crowd potentially not on his side for this match.
Foster has the advantage in that he’s been fighting at 130 virtually his entire 11-year professional career, and that could help him in this fight against the highly technical 32-year-old Vargas.
WHEN IS VARGAS FOSTER?
- Date: Saturday, February 11
- Main card: 9 p.m. ET / 2 a.m. GMT
- Main event ringwalks (approx): 12 a.m. ET / 5 a.m. GMT
- Showtime will broadcast the fight in the U.S.
- The fight will take place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
- The main card is set to get underway at 9 p.m. ET / 2 a.m. GMT with the main event ringwalks scheduled for 12 a.m. ET / 5 a.m. GMT.
Rey Vargas more experienced
What could be a problem for Foster is his thin resume, which consists primarily of C-level opposition. The only notable opposition on Foster’s resume is these guys:
- Miguel ‘Mickey’ Roman – *37 years old
- Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov
In contrast, Vargas has wins over these talented fighters:
- Mark Magsayo
- Franklin Manzanilla
- Tomoko Kameda
- Azat Hovhannisyan
- Oscar Negrete
- Ronny Rios
- Gavin McDonnell
- Alexander Muñoz
- Christian Esquivel
Given the massive difference in experience against quality opposition in favor of Vargas, you’ve to lean in his direction in winning this fight on Saturday against Foster because he’s been in with the far better competition.
That’s not to say Foster can’t win, as he’s got skills and decent power, but it’s still going to be awfully tough. He looked good against the past his prime Miguel Roman recently, and he’s coming off a one-sided 12 round decision win over Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov last year in March.
Obviously, it’s not ideal that Foster will be coming off an 11-month layoff when he steps inside the ring against Vargas.
Prediction: Vargas wins
The former two-division world champion Rey Vargas will be too good for Foster on Saturday night. Vargas’ size and technical skills are beyond anything that Foster has dealt with before, and he’s not going to find a way to offset that ability.
If Foster was a huge puncher, that would be a different story, but unfortunately for him, he’s not that type of fighter.
This writer sees Vargas putting on a boxing masterclass performance on Saturday night, befuddling Foster and doing pretty much whatever he wants inside the ring.
In Vargas’ last fight, he had issues with the power of Mark Magsayo last July at the Alamodome. Still, he won’t have to worry about that on Saturday night because Foster doesn’t possess the same raw power as the former WBC featherweight champion.
If you’re Foster, you got to find a way to put some heat on Vargas because if he doesn’t pressure him from the outset, he’s going to box his head off, which is what we’re likely to see.
“The Alamodome has seen me crowned champion before, and they’re going to see it again on Saturday night,” said Rey Vargas. “It’s a big goal of mine to become part of the club of three-division champions. I want to be one of the best that there’s ever been in Mexican boxing.
“O’Shaquie is a quality fighter with a strong Olympic style. But I’ve fought opponents with all different styles. What I’ve noticed from watching O’Shaquie is that he’s kind of veered from his path and started to do some things differently ahead of this fight. It makes me think he’s feeling the pressure of this fight,” said Vargas.
It’s unknown what Vargas is referring to when he talks of Foster veering from his normal path. Unless Vargas talks about something he’s spotted from training clips of Foster, he’s looked the same as usual in his recent fights.
At this point in Foster’s career, it would be foolish for him to make drastic changes to his fighting style for the fight with Vargas on Saturday night because it wouldn’t be a good idea for him to tinker with what got him this far.
Showtime Undercard:
Mario Barrios vs. Jovanie Santiago
Lenier Pero vs. Viktor Vykhryst
Eumir Felix Marcial vs. Ricardo Ruben Villalba
Claudio Marrero vs. Gonzalo Fuenzalida
Fabian Diaz vs. Eleazar Mendietta
Manuel Sifuentes vs. Jesus Ponce Aguilar
David Whitmire vs. Keith Foreman
Daniel Heinen vs. James Wohlschlegel
Dainier Pero vs. Daniel Zavala
