O’Shaquie Foster believes he has achieved pound-for-pound greatness and wants the world to know while ranking himself among boxing’s elite fighters.

There is no question that whoever wins the October 24 unification fight between Emanuel Navarrete and Foster, the WBC super featherweight champion, could find themself in the top ten pound-for-pound fighters. 

When asked by KO on SI if he thought he could place at eight, Foster pushed back. “Man, I think I should be closer to five or something like that,”

Foster dreaming of bigger fights

Foster enters his San Antonio showdown following victories over Robson Conceição, Stephen Fulton and Raymond Ford. Hard to argue with that level of competition. A win in Texas will add Navarrete’s WBO and IBF titles to his WBC championship. He dreams of even bigger fights.

“But I’m taking challenge after challenge,” he said. “You know what I mean? Everybody that I fought, they was number two or number one with the WBC.”

In an era where fighters love “tune-up” matches in between the big fights, Foster is cut from a different cloth.

“Like, I’m not going to choose somebody that’s number eight or number 10,” he said. “I’m taking the next best challenger.”

Asked which performances someone unfamiliar with his career should watch, Foster immediately named his victories over Rey Vargas and Stephen Fulton.

Vargas was the opponent Foster defeated to win his first full world championship in February 2023. Fulton was another established champion whose move to super featherweight ended in defeat against Foster. Fulton has not fought since his loss.

Foster also mentioned his win over Eduardo “Rocky” Hernández in October 2023. “That I’m going to catch him. I’m going to catch him,” Foster recalls thinking as the rounds wore on.

In that fight, he came through a punishing contest to stop Hernández in the final round and retain his WBC title.

Navarrete now presents another opportunity to strengthen that resume. At two mammoth boxing press conferences in recent weeks- the AJ-Fury announcement in London and the IBA press conference in Istanbul- it was this fight that many boxing writers were excited about. Hardcore fans also realize this is, and I rarely say this, a true 50-50 fight.

“And I feel like this is the fight that’s going to give me the credit I deserve in the sport.”