WBC super featherweight champion O’Shaquie Foster weighed in at 130 lbs, and his opponent, Abraham Nova, came in at 129 lbs at Thursday’s weigh-in for their 12-round headliner this Friday night at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event will be shown live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
The 30-year-old Foster (21-2, 12 KOs) took a lot of punishment in his last fight against Eduardo Hernandez last October in a clash in which he scored a 12th-round knockout. We’ll see how that war may have affected Foster coming into this fight because he got hit a lot by the heavy-handed Hernandez, and it was fortunate he got the knockout.
Nova (23-1, 16 KOs) is coming into this contest with a two-fight winning streak after being knocked out in five rounds by two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez in 2022.
(Main card on ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN+, at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT
O’Shaquie Foster 130 vs. Abraham Nova 129
Andres Cortes 130 vs. Bryan Chevalier 129
Bruce Carrington 125.6 vs. Bernard Torres 125.4
Prelimiinary card on ESPN+, 5:20 p.m. ET/2:20 p.m. PT
Guido Vianello 242.2 vs. Moses Johnson 248.4
Isaah Flaherty 158.4 vs. Julien Baptiste 158.2
Ofacio Falcon 130 vs. Edward Ceballos 129.6
Tiger Johnson 140.4 vs. Paulo Galdino 141.8
Euri Cedeno 159 vs. Antonio Todd 158.6
Arnold Gonzalez 150 vs. Charles Stanford 147.6
Foster would like to face WBO super featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete next in a unification fight. However, the chances of that happening are nil, as the Mexican star is moving up to 135 to go after the vacant WBO lightweight title. He’s not going to stay at 130 just so he can fight Foster, who isn’t a big name.
“We’re always up for unifying – that’s something we’ve been screaming since we won the [WBC] title, but we understand that some fights have to be built, and the process of it, so we definitely want it. It’s a possibility, for sure,” said Foster about fighting Navarrete.
“He’s got to want it too. I’m done chasing these guys. That’s one thing about it,” said Foster.
The more realistic option for Foster is to continue to defend his WBC title against his contenders and hope that, eventually, one of the big names looks in his direction. If Fosster had confidence in himself, he’s move up to lightweight and chase the big names, but he’s struggling at 130. If Foster can’t dominate at 130, it’s pointless to go up.
