“Won Clearly”: Shakur Stevenson Questions Judges Split Decision on Foster vs Nova Fight Verdict

The coup failed. Abraham Nova‘s attempt to usurp the incumbent title holder, O’Shaquie Foster, crumbled by the final bell. The WBC super featherweight champion won by a split decision. While joy abounds among fans and supporters, dissent over the match decision seems to have emerged from distant corners.

It would be the second successful title defense for O’Shaquie Foster. He won the belt last year on February 11 after defeating Ray Vargas unanimously. Eight months later, he defended it against Eduardo Hernandez. Reportedly, like many, Shakur Stevenson also seems to believe that ‘Ice Water’ had done enough to secure a convincing victory over Nova. In the end, he couldn’t help himself from airing his concern openly.

Ring Riddle Riles Shakur Stevenson

So two of the judges scored 116-111 and 115-112 in O’Shaquie Foster’s favor. However, the third judge probably felt that Abraham Nova had had the upper hand in the fight. Hence, they awarded 114-113 to the Puerto Rican-born boxer. But many appear to have questioned the justification behind the judge’s decision. Sharing his doubt, Shakur Stevenson asked from which angle he perceived that ‘El Super’ had outboxed Foster. In his view, Foster won emphatically after rolling over Nova through the rounds.

“I didn’t see where that judge could of gave Nova the fight, tbh.. I thought Shock took control of the fight and won clearly,” said Stevenson. Especially during the final round, ‘Ice Water’ went full-on on the Puerto Rican, even knocking him down for good. But as it appears, the judges may not have been entirely impressed by the last-minute command from the Texas-born champion.

In fact, one of the users responding to Shakur Stevenson’s post posited. Probably Foster might have gone a bit slow during the initial rounds, leading to Nova narrowing the margins. “Foster allowed too many of the early rounds to be closer than they needed to be. This is a fault that he needs to rectify. I had 116-111 Foster but could absolutely understand at least 2 close rounds being scored to Nova 114-113 to Nova suddenly becomes scarily plausible,” the user said.

Perhaps the knockout loss to Robeisy Ramirez in June 2022 might have dwelled on Abraham Nova to slug it out through each round with Foster. Hence the neck-and-neck fight.

Anyhow, in the end, he will have to contend with a second career loss. For ‘Ice Water’, it’s the twelfth straight victory. Seemingly, he has a list of boxers, such as Emanuel Navarrete, Lamont Roach, and a few others, in the crosshairs to duke it out in an attempt to stake a claim to the unified title.

Read More: “He’s Tailor-Made for That”: Abraham Nova Makes His Pick Between Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney

Did you see the match? Like Shakur Stevenson, do you also believe that the split decision verdict was incorrect?

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