O'Shaquie Foster: Undisputed comes first, then Shakur Stevenson

Whether or not it was the plan all along, O'Shaquie Foster knew exactly what he wanted next the moment his unanimous decision win over Emanuel Navarrete in their junior lightweight title unification bout Saturday in San Antonio was in the books.

And it wasn't Shakur Stevenson.

Foster, a titleholder at 130 pounds who collected two more belts after soundly beating Navarrete (including dropping him twice in the 12th round), is focused on achieving undisputed status.

"I want to go undisputed," Foster said after dispatching Navarrete. "I only need one more [belt] to become undisputed and fulfill my biggest dream."

Foster's next steps

Anthony Cacace, who is scheduled to fight Nick Ball on Dec. 19, is the other titleholder at junior lightweight. Foster indicated he wants the winner of that bout next.

He also cast a line seeking a fight with Vasiliy Lomachenko, who recently announced his comeback and intended return at 130 pounds.

Then?

"I'm gonna go up after the undisputed," Foster said, "and try to conquer some more."

That plan seems to include (and possibly start with) Stevenson, whom Foster had been in talks – of a sort – with before before lining up Navarrete.

"Me and Shakur was supposed to get it in after the Ray Ford fight," Foster said postfight Saturday. "That's really one of the reasons why I had to knock Ray Ford out the way, because I felt like that would have been huge for boxing. Real animosity with me and Shakur, and he threw his mans in the middle of it. So why not make the story even bigger by beating him and then now me and you go?"

Stevenson spent the months after signing with Zuffa Boxing in July calling out Foster – as well as Devin Haney and Gary Antuanne Russell, among others – while doing zero fighting. On Oct. 19, only three months into a multifight contract, Stevenson announced he was splitting with Zuffa.

Stevenson had reportedly demanded $15 million from Zuffa to fight, turning down a $7 million offer to take on Jose "Rayo" Valenzuela.

The Foster-Stevenson beef

Foster claims that Stevenson, after previously calling him out on social media, then ducked him.

"We didn't get nothing like no call, no nothing, man," Foster said. "And he went on Twitter and said, 'Answer your phone.' I don't know. I mean, Top Rank, nobody – we didn't get nothing from them.

"So now I'm going to build my profile, become a pound-for-pound guy, Fighter of the Year. Steal the shine from all these guys that's Twitter-talking and doing the Twitter-fighting, and they'll demand that fight."

Foster implied he may have only a couple more fights left at 130 pounds before he will be ready to move up to lightweight. That's where Stevenson, in theory, would await.

"So like I said, I ain't chasing nobody," Foster said. "That's a fight that I want because he's a guy that I really don't like and I really would love to put hands on him. But my career going to come first before anything. ... This is this is the path right here: go undisputed, do something he's never done, something nobody's ever done at 130 pounds. Make my mark and then go up and we'll see about it."