The hope moving forward is that O’Shaquie Foster can land the fights he’s long craved for as long as he holds a major title.
“Me winning the title really changed the landscape,” Foster told BoxingScene.com. “If I didn’t win this WBC title, I know these guys would still be running from me.”
Case in point, Foster will make a mandatory defense of his WBC junior lightweight title versus Mexico City’s Eduardo ‘Rocky’ Hernandez this Saturday on DAZN from Cancun, Mexico. The bout was on his radar for nearly two years, but never fully explored by Hernandez’s team even after the Mexican knockout artist elevated to the number-one ranking.
Foster (20-2, 11KOs) expects similar resistance from his divisional peers, though it has stopped his team from playing the field. The red-hot Orange, Texas native—who has won eleven straight—hopes for future showdowns versus IBF titleholder Joe Cordina and WBO titlist Emanuel Navarrete for however much longer the Mexican chooses to remain at the weight.
Cordina is promoted by Matchroom Boxing, who signed Hernandez (34-1, 31KOs) earlier this summer. The decision to remain a free agent will remain intact at least through this weekend, though it could change with the right deal in place.
“I’m still a free agent but we’re open to doing business with Matchroom after this fight. We went to New Orleans to support Regis (Prograis, WBO junior welrerweight tilist) ) for his fight. We got to see how they do things. They’re legit. We’ll see how everything goes (on Saturday) and hopefully some of the other sites”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox