Navarrete-Foster Unification Will Have WBO Jr. Lightweight Title At Stake

The WBO has approved an exception allowing Emanuel Navarrete to defend his title in a three-belt super-featherweight unification against O’Shaquie Foster before facing mandatory challenger Charly Suarez.

The ruling clears a significant sanctioning issue around the proposed Navarrete-Foster fight, which has been reported for October 24 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Navarrete holds the WBO and IBF titles, while Foster holds the WBC belt.

WBO president Gustavo Olivieri said the organisation’s championship committee had “unanimously approved an exception allowing WBO Jr. Lightweight Champion Emanuel Navarrete to pursue the WBO/IBF/WBC Unification Championship against O’Shaquie Foster prior to discharging his mandatory obligation.”

The approval is conditional. Olivieri said: “As a condition of this approval, the winner must next face the WBO Mandatory Challenger within 180 days following the Unification Championship Contest. The Committee’s official ruling, including all applicable terms and conditions, will be published accordingly.”

The decision means Navarrete can carry the WBO belt into the Foster fight rather than being forced to vacate or first revisit his unresolved business with Suarez. The WBO had ordered Navarrete to face Suarez again after their May 2025 bout, which was initially ruled a technical decision win for Navarrete before the California State Athletic Commission later changed the result to a no-contest.

That change followed a review of the cut over Navarrete’s left eye, which was determined to have been caused by a Suarez punch rather than an accidental clash of heads. Had that ruling been made on the night, Suarez would have been awarded a technical knockout when Navarrete was not permitted to continue early in the eighth round. Navarrete was ahead on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

Navarrete subsequently added the IBF title with an 11th-round stoppage of Eduardo Nunez in February. Foster retained the WBC title with a majority decision over Raymond Ford in May, after previously reclaiming the belt from Robson Conceicao in their November 2024 rematch.

Suarez’s next fight is still not finalised. He has been linked with Vasiliy Lomachenko, who announced his retirement in June 2025 before launching a comeback in May, but representatives for Suarez and Lomachenko have yet to complete a deal.

The next formal step is the WBO’s publication of its full ruling. If Navarrete-Foster proceeds as planned, the winner will have 180 days after the unification bout to satisfy the WBO mandatory obligation.