Coming out of Spain, Jon Fernandez was already being viewed as one of the best prospects in boxing today, but now the hype has been busted.
In the main event of the September 21 ShoBox: The Next Generation broadcast, Fernandez lost his first pro fight, and his WBC Silver super featherweight title, to O?Shaquie Foster. Foster won the fight by a wide unanimous decision (98-92, 98-92, 98-92).
Foster brought in a very tactical gameplan to the fight against Fernandez that saw Foster circle around the ring throughout the fight, throw the occasional jab and make Fernandez miss as many punches as possible.
Fernandez would look to land his strong right hand, but would constantly miss. Fernandez managed to score his first effective power punch towards the end of the sixth round, when a right hand stunned Foster. Fernandez would connect several more power shots in the following round, but Foster would recover and even trade blows with his opponent. By the end of the fight, a flustered Fernandez had not seriously hurt Foster and was well on his way to his first pro loss.
According to ShoStats, Fernandez had a terrible night landing punches. Fernandez connected on only 102 of 619 total punches (16 percent) and an even more alarming stat is Fernandez landing just 13 of 259 jabs (5 percent). Foster landed 145 of 407 total punches (36 percent).
There were three other fights on the televised portion of the card, which took place at the Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma: Steven Ortiz defeating Wesley Ferrer by majority decision, Misael Lopez beating James Wilkins by unanimous decision and Irvin Gonzalez also getting a unanimous decision against Carlos Ortiz.