The WBC junior lightweight champion says decades of championship history cannot be recreated overnight
O’Shaquie Foster is not convinced Zuffa Boxing can quickly build the same prestige attached to boxing’s established world titles. The WBC junior lightweight champion said the history behind the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO belts will be difficult for any new championship system to match.
“I always watched the champions, you know, the WBC belt, IBF, all them, WBO, WBA,” Foster said on the Ariel Helwani Show. “It’s real history and real legends that I looked up to that fought for these belts, and they mean so much to a fighter.”
Foster said the established sanctioning bodies have spent decades building the value attached to their championships, making it difficult for any new organization to immediately gain the same level of recognition.
“It’s kind of hard to take that away and try to change the program,” Foster said. “It’s going to be years and years of history that they’re going to have to try to make to be able to replicate what the WBC and everybody has done.”
The WBC junior lightweight champion stopped short of dismissing the project outright, but admitted he remains uncertain about how the concept will develop.
“I’m definitely, I don’t know,” Foster said. “I couldn’t see myself. I just got to say I don’t know. We got to see.”
Foster’s comments come as discussion continues around Zuffa Boxing’s planned league-style model and its intention to introduce its own championship belt. The project has already generated debate across the sport, particularly among fighters who have spent years pursuing titles sanctioned by the WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO.
Although much of the attention surrounding Foster’s interview centered on his ongoing rivalry with Stevenson, his remarks offered a glimpse into how at least one reigning world champion views the challenge facing any new boxing title system.
The issue isn’t whether a new promotion can attract fighters. It’s whether decades of championship history can be recreated in a short period of time.
