Two-time champions Rey Vargas and O’Shaquie Foster will battle for the vacant 130-pound title Saturday night on Showtime from the Alamodome in San Antonio.
REY VARGAS (36-0, 22 KOS) VS. FOSTER O’SHAQUIE (February 19, 11 KOS)
- Day: Saturday, February 11
- Time: 9pm ET / 6pm Pacific Time (main event follows)
- Where: Alamodome, San Antonio
- television/stream: Showtime
- Assignment: Lightweight for kids (130 pounds)
- threatened: WBC title vacant
- Pound-for-pound ratings: Do not have
- the odds: Vargas 2-1 favorite (multi-store average)
- Also on the card: Mario Barrios vs. Jovanie Santiago, welterweight; Lenier Pero versus Viktor Faust, the heavyweight opponent
- Guess: University of Vargas
- Background: Vargas has returned to normal after a two-year break from 2019 to 2021, partly due to a broken leg during training. The 32-year-old Mexican, former 122-pound owner, returns at 126 and nearly closed Leonard Baez in November 2011 and later beat then WBC champion Mark Magsayo by a split decision to become the owner of the two divisions last July. He is now a third off even though he says 126 is his natural weight. Vargas is a slick technician and has knockdown power at 122 but his two bouts at 126 have gone far. We’ll see if he can hurt the larger Foster naturally at 130. 29-year-old Foster, a top US amateur a decade ago, is also a good technician but is standing up against his first chance to fight for a major title in the world. gender. The Houston boxer encountered some speed bumps in 2015 and 2016, when he lost two of his four fights. He then made some changes to his camp and hasn’t lost since. He arguably took home his biggest win yet, stopping veteran Miguel Roman in nine rounds in November 2020. He then easily defeated Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov, the then undefeated in his most recent match, in March of last year, for a title fight.
