O'Shaquie Foster Vs Abraham Nova Tips
There’s an interesting super-featherweight world title fight between the WBC king O'Shaquie Foster and challenger Abraham Nova in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Foster took his career to a new peak last year, first by winning his first world title against Rey Vargas and then successfully defending the WBC crown in a barnstorming bout with Eduardo Hernandez.
Nova perhaps has more to prove than the champion, and that’s reflected in offers of 6/1, but Supernova scored a stunning knockout of Jonatan Romero last time out and the 30-year-old will arrive at New York’s Madison Square Garden brimming with confidence.
Tip 1 Fight not to go the distance @ 6/5
Foster looked in a fair bit of trouble when making the first defence of his WBC super-featherweight world title against Hernandez in October. Ice Water appeared to have been frozen out by the Mexican for much of the 12-round contest, but that all changed in the final round.
The Texan dropped Rocky twice and went on to claim a stoppage victory. That win indicated that Foster has the power to stop top-level opponents and on balance a clash with Nova has to be viewed as a step down in class.
Supernova was a useful amateur performer and the early stages of the Puerto Rican’s professional career were promising. However, the 30-year-old made a step up to challenge Robeisy Ramirez for the IBF featherweight belt and that ended in a fifth-round knockout defeat.
The class and power of Ramirez proved too much for Nova on that occasion and punch resistance has to be an even bigger concern now the Puerto Rican has stepped up to the 130lbs division.
However, Supernova has shown that he has the potency to cause his own problems and his stoppage success over Romero last time out was certainly an impressive victory.
Nova may feel that his power is the best avenue for success in this bout, but that could leave the 30-year-old vulnerable to the class and accuracy of Foster and 6/5 about the contest not going the distance looks a pretty generous offer.
Tip 2 Under 10.5 rounds @ 29/20
If Nova does decide to go on the front foot, which appears likely, then this contest may not last as long as the prices suggest.
It’s a huge worry that Supernova went only five rounds at featherweight when losing to Ramirez, and the Cuban’s defeat to Rafael Espinoza hasn’t exactly boosted that form.
Foster showed that he can stop world title challengers last time out, and with Nova facing his first real super-featherweight test, it could pay to back under 10.5 rounds.