O’Shaquie Foster’s Rise To The WBC 130-Pound Title

O’Shaquie Foster fulfilled his unlikely path to success with a win over Rey Vargas.

Foster went up against Vargas, the two-division world champion in the super featherweight category, to vie for the WBC’s 130-pound title.

Throughout the twelve-round fight, Foster outsmarted Vargas, one of the most challenging opponents in the 122 and 126 lb division.

He outscored Vargas, almost achieving the remarkable feat of limiting him to less than ten landed punches during the title bout. Foster’s natural size at 130 certainly helped his cause, but so did his skills.

As Vargas began to gain momentum and throw his right hand with more force and urgency, Foster would not let his victory be taken away.

Despite Vargas’ objections, the official scores gave Foster the win as follows: 116-112, 117-111, and 119-109.

Foster’s Hurdles

But the title was just the icing on the cake. The road to achieving that success was not easy, but in doing so, Foster put his area, Orange, Texas, on the map.

The area was severely affected by three successive hurricanes – Rita, Ike, and Harvey – requiring most people to evacuate and return to rebuild. Then, three weeks ago, a tornado caused a power blackout for 16,000 locals and demolished 100 homes.

Meanwhile, the early points of his career were impacted too.  After claiming the title of a national amateur champion eight times, Foster was granted a position as an Olympic alternate in 2012 and went professional.

However, his career then suffered a major mishap. For four months, Foster was imprisoned for aggravated assault, coinciding with Hurricane Harvey.

The inmates at the Orange correctional facility were able to watch Terence Crawford’s fight against Julius Indongo, which is where Foster realized he could mimic Crawford’s style.

Once back on track, Foster went to Houston to concentrate solely on his art with Bobby Benton (trainer) and manager Keith Mills.

Thereafter, he won nine consecutive fights after his 2016 loss to Ronaldo Chinea. And when the opportunity came to fight for the vacant 130 lb belt against Vargas, he did not disappoint.

Speaking after his victory, he said: “I can’t put it into words (what this means). I know my mom, my uncle, my grandpa, they are all looking down on me.”