Performances in battles between champions are rarely more impressive than that which O'Shaquie Foster turned in against Emanuel Navarrete on Saturday in San Antonio. Foster brought the WBC junior lightweight championship to the ring and left with Navarrete's IBF and WBO belts.

Foster set the tone early, leading the dance and picking the right moments to engage while avoiding Navarrete's attempts to push the action with his pressure-based game. In the opening round, Foster was so effective that Navarrete landed no punches in the frame.

While the belief entering the fight was that the fight would ultimately be a battle between Foster's technique and Navarrete's willingness to engage in an ugly fight to land power shots, Foster made it clear as the rounds ticked by that he had no concerns about Navarrete's power, nor was he afraid to stand and put power behind his own shots.

When Navarrete was able to land, Foster was always ready with a response, outlanding Navarrete and doing so with power and grit. It was the kind of performance Foster has always seemed capable of, but rarely displayed, which was why four of his previous five bouts had ended in either a majority or split decision.

Knowing the fight had slipped from his grasp by the championship rounds, Navarrete tried to find a home run shot that could erase the scorecard deficit, and he seemed close to finding that shot when an uppercut rattled Foster late in Round 11.

While it seemed the uppercut may have set up a dramatic charge for Navarrete in the final round, it was Foster who landed a bomb in an exchange, dropping Navarrete to the canvas. While Navarrete attempted to argue that the referee should not have called that moment a knockdown, Foster left no doubt moments later, when another huge right sent Navarrete down for the second time in the round.

Navarrete beat the count and made it to the end of the round, and the fight, but Foster was crowned unified champion by scores of 115-111, 118-108, 118-108.

"I knew he was going to be strong and awkward." Foster said after the fight. "He's a great champion. I just had a little more in me tonight. ... I told y'all before, I felt like I was the better inside fighter and the better outside fighter and I proved that tonight."