Emanuel Navarrete vs. O’Shaquie Foster: An Inside Look At The Official Press Conference

SAN ANTONIO— The temperature was scorching on a Wednesday in Texas at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio as Top Rank Boxing announced the upcoming unified super featherweight world championship bout between Emanuel Navarrete (40-2-1, 33 KOs) and O’Shaquie Foster (25-3, 12 KOs). The fight, taking place Saturday, October 24, will be part of the DAZN subscription and will not be a PPV despite the all-action affair featured on the card.

Chris Mannix hosted the dais of fighters on stage, with Top Rank’s President Todd duBoef seated beside the WBC super featherweight world champion Foster, who last fought in May of this year, winning a majority decision over Raymond Ford. He has had a couple of tough-luck scorecards in his career, and most pundits felt he deserved better than the 114-114 scorecard against Ford.

While Foster was hoping to secure a fight with Shakur Stevenson, Navarrete offers Foster the chance to add to his loaded resume of tough outings. Navarrete last fought in February, stopping Eduardo Nunez in the 11th round in front of a Glendale, Arizona, crowd. As a three-weight champion, Navarrete hopes to add the WBC title to his IBF and WBO collection.

In the presser and afterward, in an exclusive FightsATW.com interview, Mannix mentioned that the main event will be for the vacant Ring Magazine title at 130 lbs.

Returning to action after a February decision draw with Nahir Albright is Frank Martin, who will make his Top Rank debut in a bout against TBA. Martin is determined to regain his career momentum, and his style in front of his hometown Texas fans is the best next step.

Also on the card, Robert Garcia Academy standout Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez (18-0, 11Kos) will take on Edward Vasquez. Gonzalez recently debuted in the Ring Magazine rankings at featherweight and currently sits at #10. Garcia spoke to FightsATW, where he expressed high hopes for Gonzalez. FightsATW also learned that Art Barrera Jr., who was scheduled to be on the October card, will no longer appear, though his manager/trainer Garcia hopes to showcase Barrera’s skills in front of a Lone Star crowd before the end of the year or early next year.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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