Controversy in Newark as Robson Conceicao beats O’Shaquie Foster to win world title at fourth attempt

IN what was a fight to forget, O’Shaquie Foster’s world title defeat to Robson Conceicao could prove to be the most controversial of 2024.

Foster, (22-3, 12 KOs), who was defending his WBC super-featherweight strap for a third time, lost by split decision with two of the judges (Anthony Lundy and Paul Wallace) seeing it, remarkably, 116-112 and 115-113 in favour of Conceicao while the third (Ron McNair) having it 116-112 for Foster.

Neither man offered enough in offence with Foster content to shoulder roll anything that came his way against his Brazilian opponent who appeared way off the level of a world title contender. With that being said this was his fourth attempt at winning world honours at 130lbs and now returns to Brazil as champion.

Foster settled the better of the two and looked by far the more composed and assured in the ring. Anything he did land caught the eye but it was far too infrequent. Conceicao may have caught the judge’s attention in his bursts of shots from the fourth onwards, but again, nothing disturbed or hurt the champion.

The crowd inside the Prudential Centre made their displeasure heard from the fourth round and were right to do so in what was a boring offering in the chief support slot to Shakur Stevenson WBC lightweight title defence against Artem Harutyunyan. Ironic cheers greeted the final bell to signal the end of the contest, much to the delight of the paying fans.

And while this contest shouldn’t be talked about again for what happened in the ring, what occurred on two of the three scorecards will leave fans scratching their heads for years to come. Did Conceicao do enough to win? Most certainly not. Did Foster do enough to retain? Yes. And he will regret not stamping his authority on an opponent who looked out of ideas from early on in the fight.

Here’s hoping there is no rematch clause.