Emanuel Navarrete and O’Shaquie Foster have agreed to terms for a super featherweight unification fight on October 24 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated reports that the fight will be shown on DAZN. Navarrete brings the WBO and IBF titles into the matchup, while Foster puts his WBC belt on the line.
The agreement is significant because Foster had grown tired of waiting for a Navarrete fight. He said in June that the unification needed to happen next or he saw little reason to remain at 130 pounds.
Only days ago, Navarrete manager Alejandro Brito denied that a deal had been completed. That made it unclear if the negotiations would finally produce a fight after Foster had unsuccessfully pursued Navarrete in the past.
Navarrete unified the WBO and IBF belts by stopping Eduardo Nunez in the 11th round in February. Foster kept his WBC title by defeating Raymond Ford in May. The Ring currently has Navarrete and Foster as the top two fighters in the division.
The matchup should give Foster the kind of fight his defensive style is designed for. Navarrete is awkward, throws from unusual angles, and likes to overwhelm opponents with activity. Foster will have opportunities to make him pay for those attacks with counters, but spending too much time waiting would allow Navarrete to control the fight through sheer output.
Navarrete faces a different problem. Foster is considerably more difficult to hit cleanly than the opponents who allow Navarrete to turn fights into prolonged exchanges. If Foster can make him miss and immediately answer, Navarrete may have to become more selective rather than relying on his usual high-volume attack.
The winner will leave San Antonio holding three of the four major super featherweight titles. More importantly, Navarrete-Foster should finally establish a clear leader in a division that has gone years without producing the unification fights needed to sort out its champions.