O’Shaquie Foster Gets a rematch against Robson Conceição on November 2nd

O’Shaquie Foster (22-3, 12 KOs) will face WBC super featherweight champion Robson Conceição (19-2-1, 9 KOs) in a rematch on November 2nd on ESPN+ in Verona, New York.

Former WBC 130-lb champion Foster, 30, is getting a second chance after the WBC ordered a rematch due to outcry from him and his fans.

Foster’s Passive Style Leads to Defeat

Foster failed to let his hands go and was chased down by a spirited Conceicao, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist in their July 6 bout at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Putting Foster and Shakur Stevenson on the same card last July was a cup of poison for Prudential Center fans. Foster’s style in the Conceicao fight seemed to diminish Shakur because he made the fight unwatchable.

“I think I won the fight,” Conceicao said of his fight with Foster. “He has not come to fight. He was running and running. I am the winner.”

I won Conceicao 11-1, which was an easy fight to score points. He pushed the fight throughout the rounds while Foster stayed on the ropes, trying to make Conceicao miss and fight short bouts. If you’re a trainer, you have to tell your fighters that they can’t fight the way Foster does and expect to be given decisions when they’re facing a tough and pressure fighter.

Foster received a questionable 12-round split decision in his previous fight with Abraham Nova last February when he worked the same way. In the end, Nova completely eliminated Foster and looked like the winner, but gave it to the Texas native.

Does Foster Adapt?

Foster should have learned from that fight that he can’t fight like that and expect to be handed questionable decisions again. Beating Nova by a controversial decision was a red flag that Foster needed to change the way he fought heading into his match against Conceicao, but he didn’t.

Fighting like a carbon copy of Shakur Stevenson, Foster played it safe, using a three-foot backhand move all night to avoid injury, but failed to fight. Afterward, Foster appeared to be in denial, failing to see that he had fought nervously and allowed the motivated Brazilian Conceicao to wear him down.

I watched the Foster vs. Conceicao, and it was easy to score. An Olympic gold medalist, Conceicao knew how to get the better of the hard-working Foster, who seemed to think he’d win on the cheap by playing it safe, using his Shakur-esque style, thinking the judges would appreciate it.

If Foster doesn’t change his fighting style and start at safety like Shakur, he will lose the rematch with Conceicao, and his career will sink into the mud. I don’t think Foster can change. He doesn’t have the dog in him to fight tough guys like Conceicao, Anthony Cacace, or Emanuel Navarrete.