Analyst Teddy Atlas predicts a victory for O’Shaquie Foster over WBC super featherweight champion Robson Conceicao in their rematch this Saturday night at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
Atlas feels that the combination of the youth of the 31-year-old Foster (22-3, 12 KOs) and the pressure that will be put on the judges to give him the decision will lead him to victory over the 36-year-old Conceicao (19-2-1, 9 KOs).
The A-side Foster wasn’t supposed to lose to Conceicao earlier this year on July 6th, but he failed to fight hard and assumed the judges would give him the decision based on his minimal work. He was given a quick rematch based on the huge cry from Foster and his fans.
While Foster used his Mayweather-esque potshot style, Conceicao was throwing nonstop shots, outworking him in every round. This left a clear impression of who wanted to win more. Not surprisingly, the judges gave it to the hard-working 2016 Olympic gold medalist Conceicao.
Foster’s approach to the fight resulted in the crowd booing him, and yet that still didn’t motivate him to let his hands go. Teddy didn’t mention anything about the booing, but it had to have affected the judges.
The scores
– 116-112: Conceicao
– 115-113: Conceico
– 116-112: Foster
I watched the fight live and had it for Conceicao 117-111. He outworked Foster by a wide margin and dominated the vast majority of the fight. Foster looked like he was just trying not to get hit and steal the rounds in the final ten seconds by landing a few shots.
It was obvious from watching Foster that he didn’t want to put in any effort, which may have been due to the grueling fight he’d recently had against Abraham ‘Super’ Nova on February 16th. Nova had hit Foster a lot and outworked him in the same way that Conceicao outworked him.
The judges gave Foster a 12-round split decision, but many fans felt that Nova had done more than enough to deserve the win. However, the judges gave it to the A-side Foster, who had dodged a bullet in that fight but failed to learn from his mistakes of not being busy enough.
“I like Foster to win this one. I think Conceicao got his thing. He finally got his title. I’m glad for him,” said Teddy Atlas on his channel, picking O’Shaquie Foster to defeat Robson Conceicao this Saturday night in their rematch on November 2nd.
“I’m not happy that the other guy [Foster] got robbed. Foster got the rematch right away. I’m grateful for that. He’s younger [31]. Conceicao is older [recently turned 36]. I think he probably won’t be as good as he was in that fight. Maybe the age will show a little bit more, and Foster being a little bit younger. That will show.”
Teddy is a little off. The younger-looking fighter in their previous clash was Conceicao, not Foster. Although Foster was five years younger than the 36-year-old Conceicao, he looked and fought like an older guy, using his Mayweather potshot approach. He didn’t want to work hard, and that’s a hallmark of older fighters. The Brazilian Conceicao wanted it more, and the judges noticed that. The slacker lost, and rightly so.
Conceicao is the one that had been robbed in his last fights, not Foster. In Conceicao’s clashes against Emanuel Navarrete and Oscar Valdez, he’d been given a raw deal and should have been givien wins. Against Foster, the judges finally got it right.
“Foster will learn from his mistakes. People will say, ‘What mistakes? He got robbed.’ He could have done more,” said Atlas, predicting a win for Foster over Conceicao. “He left stuff on the table. He could have jabbed more. He could have done a little bit more. I think he will do a little bit more.”
Foster has never had a high work rate, and it’s hard to imagine him “learning from his mistakes,” as Atlas says because that would involve changing the minimalist, potshot style that he’s always had. Fighters can’t change their DNA, especially when they’re aging, and have been through the wars the Foster has had against ‘Super’ Nova, Eduardo Hernandez, and Rey Vargas. He took a lot of shots in those fights.
The Hernandez and Nova fights were brutal for Foster, and that’s why he may have been reluctant to crawl out of the foxhole he was hiding in and hit the frontlines against Conceicao. Foster was too depleted from the Nova, and Hernandez fights to rush into no man’s land to engage in combat against the ambitious soldier Conceicao.
“I’m not saying he’s got to get reckless. I’m not saying he’s got to get out of his ID that he want to box, and do all those great pretty thing. But do a little bit more of them do your opportunities to move your hands a little bit more without betraying your style. I think he will do a little bit more.
“The other guy [Conceicao], I think he’s gotten to the mountaintop. I think that will be his one shot at a mountaintop. I think O’Shaquie Foster will wind up winning a unanimous decision. He got the rematch fast? Why did he get the rematch fast because they said it was an injustice. They demanded an immediate rematch the organization [WBC],” said Atlas.
Conceicao isn’t going to give up his WBC title just because he’s “gotten to the mountaintop,” as Atlas says. What kind of nonsense is that? He’s going to fight tooth and nail to hold onto it, and he’s going to go on the attack against the battle-worn Foster and outwork him again. Foster doesn’t have the fight him anymore. We saw that against Conceicao and Novs. Hernandez took it out of him.
“You think the judges aren’t going to be aware that the lights are going to be on them?” said Atlas. “‘I better make sure. Here, let me make my card out now and make sure. First round, O’Shaquie. Second round, O’Shaquie. Third round, O’Shaquie. Fourth round, O’Shaquie.’
“I think he’s [Foster] got everything going for him. If that’s not enough, I think Foster has got the pressure on the judges. I think they’re going to be afraid not to give it to him,” said Atlas.
