O'Shaquie Foster vs Emanuel Navarrete

Really looking forward to this one. O’Shaquie Foster is the cleaner, more conventional boxer; Emanuel Navarrete is awkward, relentless and almost impossible to establish a comfortable rhythm against. His punches arrive from strange angles, and even when they miss, the next attack is already coming. Foster will have the tidier moments, but tidiness alone does not win rounds.

Navarrete’s advantage is his engine. He changes rhythm, loops punches around the guard and keeps working to head and body. His balance can desert him when he reaches, so Foster’s counter right will land. Foster’s weakness is his tendency to wait and study for too long. Against a man throwing constantly, those quiet spells could leave him chasing the fight, however accurate his counters look.

I expect Foster to catch Navarrete cleanly and make him look clumsy at times. The problem is keeping him off for an entire fight. Navarrete will force the pace, crowd Foster near the ropes and keep punching through the gaps. Foster may finish strongly, but he will have surrendered too many of the earlier rounds. I’m taking Navarrete on points, with his pressure, work rate and body punching earning a clear but competitive decision.