SAN ANTONIO — The biggest fight left to make at 130 pounds in the super featherweight division is official. WBO/IBF champion Emanuel Navarrete and WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster will meet Saturday, Oct. 24, at Frost Bank Center, live on DAZN, putting all three major world titles on the line in one fight. Whoever leaves San Antonio holding all three isn't just the best 130-pounder on the planet. He's a serious Fighter of the Year candidate.
Top Rank President Todd duBoef didn't undersell it. "The stakes don't get any bigger," he said, "as the winner will be heralded as the division's king."
Navarrete (40-2-1, 33 KOs) has been building toward this since he shocked Isaac Dogboe at 122 pounds in December 2018, and has since worn world titles at featherweight (126 lbs.) and now super featherweight (130 lbs.). He answered every doubt in February with a career-best win over previously unbeaten IBF titleholder Eduardo Nuñez, and he's not treating this as just another defense.
"I'm coming for everything, and I'm coming with everything I've got," Navarrete said. "I'm a Mexican warrior. I fear nothing and no one. On October 24, you're going to see a real Mexican warrior."
Foster (25-3, 12 KOs), the WBC's 130-pound titleholder, is coming off the best year of his career, having dismantled two-division champion Stephen Fulton before outworking former featherweight titlist Raymond Ford in Houston in May.
"This is the type of fight every fighter dreams about, and I'm ready for the challenge," Foster said. "I know I say this every time, but this truly is the biggest fight of my career. I can't wait to put on for Texas and show the world what 'Shock' Foster is all about."
Emanuel Navarrete (left) and O'Shaquie Foster face off during Wednesday's press conference ahead of their Oct. 24 super featherweight unification bout.Top Rank
Emanuel Navarrete (left) and O'Shaquie Foster face off during Wednesday's press conference ahead of their Oct. 24 super featherweight unification bout.
The co-feature is personal for me. I was ringside in Carson this summer for the Diego Pacheco card and watched Albert "Chop Chop" Gonzalez put in work up close. Now Gonzalez (18-0, 11 KOs) gets his biggest platform yet, a 10-round featherweight (126-pound) clash with Fort Worth's Edward Vazquez (20-3, 6 KOs), a two-time world title challenger who has shared the ring with Joe Cordina and Rafael Espinoza.
Albert 'Chop Chop' Gonzalez speaks with media while holding his NABF title belt during Wednesday's press conference ahead of his Oct. 24 co-feature bout against Edward Vazquez.Top Rank
Albert 'Chop Chop' Gonzalez speaks with media while holding his NABF title belt during Wednesday's press conference ahead of his Oct. 24 co-feature bout against Edward Vazquez.
Gonzalez enters off a second-round knockout of Aaron Alameda in July that netted him the vacant regional NABF title, the kind of résumé-building belt that puts a prospect on the doorstep of real world-title contention. "Every fight has been a step up, and we've been passing every test," Gonzalez said. Vazquez isn't rolling out the welcome mat: "I'm the first real test of his career. Come October 24, I plan on showing everyone there are levels to this."
AlbertTop Rank
Albert "Chop Chop" Gonzalez (left) and Edward Vazquez pose together ahead of their Oct. 24 featherweight clash.
Rounding out the card, super lightweight (140-pound) contender Frank Martin (19-1-1, 13 KOs) makes his Top Rank debut against an opponent still to be finalized, looking to build off a February draw with Nahir Albright.
Frank Martin speaks with media ahead of his Top Rank debut on the Oct. 24 card.Top Rank
Frank Martin speaks with media ahead of his Top Rank debut on the Oct. 24 card.
Navarrete-Foster, Gonzalez-Vazquez, Martin's return and one additional bout stream live on DAZN beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Tickets go on sale Friday, Sept. 11, at 10 a.m. CT via Ticketmaster.com.