Rey Vargas vs. O’Shaquie Foster: Fight Card, Odds & Prediction

Mexican boxing star and two-division world champion Rey Vargas (36-0) is setting his sight on a third world title as he faces O’Shaquie Foster (19-2) for the vacant WBC World Super Featherweight Title this Saturday, February 11, 2023, inside Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The undefeated Vargas is the favorite in BetMGM’s online sportsbook at -140.

After a 2-year layoff, @reyvargasbox showed all the skill and sharpness that made him a 2-division world champion. #VargasBaez

Vargas takes on O’Shaquie Foster for the vacant WBC Super Featherweight World Championship Saturday, 2/11 on @ShowtimeBoxing. #VargasFoster pic.twitter.com/L4HbSQW21k

— Premier Boxing Champions (@premierboxing) February 4, 2023

Meanwhile, Foster already has two losses in his professional record and assumes the underdog role in the boxing odds at +125. The winner of this championship bout will not only be the newly-crowned WBC champion but has the opportunity to face other champions in the division and big names such as Emanuel Navarrete, Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov and Hector Luis Garcia.

Rey Vargas Recent Fight Result

Rey Vargas was a decorated amateur career where he became a multiple-time boxing national champion in Mexico and won the 2009 Pan American Championships before transitioning to the paid ranks in April 2010. In his debut match, he fought Claudio Palacios via first-round knockout for a dream start in his professional career.

Since then, the boxer from Otumba, Mexico, has collected 27 straight victories, including 21 TKO/KO stoppages to win several minor boxing titles such as the IBF Youth Super Bantamweight, WBC Youth Intercontinental Super Bantamweight, WBC Silver Super Bantamweight, WBC International Silver Super Bantamweight and WBC International Silver Super Bantamweight Titles.

After this perfect and incredible run, Vargas finally earned his first major shot at a world title in February 2017. He went toe-to-toe against Gavin McDonnell for the vacant WBC World Super Bantamweight Title. Vargas got away with a majority decision win over McDonnell to pick up his inaugural major boxing title.

Vargas fended off five challengers for the coveted belt and defeated Ronny Rios in August 2017, Oscar Negrete in December 2017, Azat Hovhannisyan in May 2018, Franklin Manzanilla in February 2019 and Tomoki Kameda in July 2019, all by way of a unanimous decision. This success in the division prompted the Mexican to pursue more titles in the higher-weight class.

Following his one-year sabbatical from fighting, Vargas returned in November 2021 and competed in the featherweight division to prepare for his move to the upper weight class. He fought Leonardo Baez and defeated him unanimously to earn an instant title shot for the WBC World Featherweight Title.

Mark Magsayo was the title-holder of that WBC Featherweight Title, and Vargas challenged him in July 2022. It became a close fight, but in the end, the 32-year-old squeaked a split-decision victory to become a two-division boxing world champion. Now, Vargas wants to add a third one this Saturday with a win against Foster.

O’Shaquie Foster Recent Fight Result

Like Rey Vargas, O’Shaquie Foster also collected multiple titles as an amateur boxer, specifically a five-time Ringside National Champion and a two-time National Junior Golden Gloves Champion. All this success in the amateur ranks helped Foster leap as a professional in September 2019.

Foster made his pro debut against Theo Johnson and got a quick first-round TKO win. “Ice Water” followed this with a seven-fight successive victory against Manuel Rubalcava, Stephen Nava, Aaron Anderson, Mario Lacey, Devin Parker, Frank Jordan and Darius Jackson before suffering his first career loss to Samuel Teah in November 2015 via unanimous decision during his ninth career bout.

The Houston, Texas-based boxer quickly rebounded from this setback with back-to-back TKO wins over Rynell Griffin in January 2016 and Lavisas Williams in February 2016. However, a close split decision loss to Rolando Chinea in July 2016 prevented Foster from securing contender status in the division.

This didn’t stop the 29-year-old from reaching his goal of becoming a world champion as he notched three successive wins against Andrew Goodrich, Kaylyn Alfred and Frank De Alba. These wins propelled Foster to challenge Jon Fernandez in September 2018 for the WBC Silver Super Featherweight Title and dethrone him with a unanimous decision victory.

It was a breakthrough triumph for Foster because he followed it up with five straight wins over Fatiou Fassinou, Jesus Bravo, Alberto Mercado, Miguel Roman and Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov. These wins have also gifted the American with the WBA Fedecentro Super Featherweight and WBC Silver Super Featherweight Titles.

The title match with Rey Vargas this Saturday will be Foster’s first major boxing title opportunity from his 11-year professional career. He aims to get a statement victory and send a strong statement across the division that he is here to stay.

Rey Vargas vs. O’Shaquie Foster: Tale of the Tape

Rey Vargas vs. O’Shaquie Foster: Fight Analysis

Looking at the tale of the tape, O’Shaquie Foster enjoys an inch-of-height advantage at 5-foot-8-and-a-half and a one-and-a-half-inch longer reach against Vargas, who has a 5-foot-7-and-a-half frame with 70.5 inches of reach. However, the experience level will be on the Mexican’s side as he has more pro fights with 32 compared to the American, who only has 21.

Speaking of pro fights, Vargas also has a better record of 36 wins and no losses, including 22 TKO/KOs, which is equal to 61% of finishing rate. On the other hand, Foster has 19 wins and two losses with 11 TKO/KOs, equivalent to a 58% of stoppage ratio. Both boxers, though, fight in an orthodox stance.

Stylistically, Vargas and Foster have contrasting techniques, with the former moving forward with jabs and combinations, while the latter is more of a counterpuncher who perfectly times his opponents to sneak in a punch of his own. The pair also packs a power capable of knocking each other out, evident in their TKO/KO rate of over 50%.

However, Vargas has more combinations in his arsenal as he targets both the head and the body. Also, he has fought in high-level bouts in his career, and this valuable experience, which includes in-fight adjustments and adversary, will be evident during the fight against Foster this Saturday.

Rey Vargas vs. O’Shaquie Foster: Date and Start Time

February 11, 2023, 6:00 p.m. PST

February 11, 2023, 8:00 p.m. CST

February 11, 2023, 9:00 p.m. EST

Rey Vargas vs. O’Shaquie Foster: Fight Prediction

Official Prediction: Unanimous decision win for Rey Vargas

See the entire Rey Vargas vs. O’Shaquie Foster odds and wagers here.