O’Shaquie Foster and Rey Vargas eventually had to be separated Friday after they made weight in San Antonio.
Vargas and Foster flexed for the cameras, before Foster took exception to Vargas touching him once they met their contractual obligations for a 12-round, 130-pound championship match Saturday night at nearby Alamodome. Mexico’s Vargas and Foster, of Orange, Texas, both officially weighed in at 129½ pounds for their “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event.
The 32-year-old Vargas, who already holds the WBC featherweight title, has moved up four pounds for his 130-pound debut. The 29-year-old Foster is the WBC’s number one contender in the super featherweight division.
They’ll fight for the WBC super featherweight title Shakur Stevenson relinquished at the scale when he came in overweight for his 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Robson Conceicao on September 23 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Most oddsmakers slightly favor Vargas (36-0, 22 KOs) over Foster (19-2, 11 KOs), who will take a nine-fight winning streak into their bout.
The official weights for the five undercard fights that’ll either be televised or streamed by Showtime are listed below.
Showtime
9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT
Mario Barrios (26-2, 17 KOs), San Antonio, 146¾ pounds vs. Jovanie Santiago (14-2-1, 10 KOs), Dorado, Puerto Rico, 145¾ pounds, 10 rounds, welterweights.
Lenier Pero (8-0, 5 KOs), Camaguey, Cuba, 242¾ pounds vs. Viktor Faust (11-0, 7 KOs), Svitlovodsk, Ukraine, 234 pounds, 10 rounds, heavyweights.
Showtime Sports YouTube channel
6:45 p.m. ET; 3:45 p.m. PT
Claudio Marrero (26-5, 18 KOs), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 135 pounds vs. Gonzalo Fuenzalida (12-1, 3 KOs), Santiago, Chile, 134½ pounds, 8 rounds, lightweights.
Eumir Marcial (3-0, 1 KO), Zamboanga City, Philippines, 161½ pounds vs. Ricardo Villalba (20-7-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC), Buenos Aires, Argentina, 162 pounds, 8 rounds, super middleweights.
Dainier Pero (2-0, 2 KOs), Camaguey, Cuba, 244¼ pounds vs. Daniel Zavala (2-1-2, 0 KOs), Del Rio, Texas, 237½ pounds, 4 rounds, heavyweights.
David Whitmire (pro debut), Washington, D.C., 148¾ pounds vs. Keith Foreman (0-0, 1 NC), Harlingen, Texas, 149 pounds, 4 rounds, junior middleweights.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.