Outrage at miscarriage of justice; O’Shaquie Foster laments ‘dirty game’
Jul 8, 2024 • 4:30 AM ET
A despondent O’Shaquie Foster was left heartbroken by the judges after his WBC super featherweight title was taken away from him at Newark’s Prudential Center.
Foster ‘lost’ on two cards, those of Tony Lundy (116-112) and Paul Wallace (115-113), but was awarded the win by Ron McNair by 116-112, and even that looked too narrow.
There was understandable outrage on social media afterwards, and CompuBox had Brazilian Conceicao landing just 11 per cent of his punches to 34 per cent for Foster.
A further look at CompuBox stats showed Foster outlanded the challenger in body punches 109 to 76, jabs by 51 to 27, and power punches 58 to 49.
Mark Kriegel, scoring the fight for ESPN, felt Foster had won by 11 rounds to one, and Foster today took to social media to write: “Dirty game. One of the easiest fights of my life we will be doing everything possible to make this right. But I will tell yall this in the rematch he not making it to 12 promise you that!!”
The great former champion Roy Jones also wrote on his Instagram account: ”This is the BS that has ruined our beautiful sport. But God sees all. Keep ya head up and stay strong.”
Light-heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde agreed, posting: “I’m so angry,” and former welterweight Ashley Theophane added: “This sport been corrupt. These officials need to be fired.”
In the ring after the fight, Foster – clearly moved – said: “I don’t know, man. I thought it was easy. I thought it was an easy fight. I didn’t get touched except with a headbutt. I don’t know, man. I’ll be back. But I want the rematch. They stole this from me. They stole this fight from me. I just wanted to show the world I could bang it out, and if I want to, I don’t have to get touched. I guess it wasn’t good enough for the judges.”
- Top Rank
- O’Shaquie Foster
- Robson Conceicao
- O'Shaquie Foster vs. Robson Conceicao
- Robson Conceicao Vs. O'Shaquie Foster 2
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
