That's the view of Shakur Stevenson, who Foster desperately wants to fight after outpointing the Newark native's friend Ray Ford to retain the WBC junior lightweight title earlier this year.

Foster hoped that victory would lead to a clash with Stevenson, The Ring and WBO 140-pound champion who signed with Zuffa Boxing in July.

Stevenson, however, wants to see more from the 32-year-old Texan.

“I would love to fight [Foster],” Stevenson admitted on Cigar Talk. “I just want my credit when I beat him. Y’all see that I’m a lot bigger than him. If I fight him right now, and he comes up to 135, are y’all gonna say that he’s a 130-pounder? If he went up to 135 and proved himself, then he’s no longer a 130 pounder. He will be a 135 pounder. Then it would make a lot of sense. He did not prove himself at 135.”

At one point, Foster (25-3, 12 KOs) thought he had Stevenson cornered. Heading into his December 2025 clash against Stephen Fulton, Foster was supposed to defend his 130-pound title. However, after Fulton blew weight by two pounds, the WBC arbitrarily sanctioned their bout for the lightweight interim belt. Stevenson, at the time, held the full version of that strap.

Foster easily won that interim belt by unanimous decision. Instead of sticking it out at 135 and demanding a shot at Stevenson, Foster opted to vacate the title and head back down in weight.

Stevenson was stripped by the WBC soon after he beat Teofimo Lopez to become a four-division champion in the main event of "Ring 6" on January 31.

Still, Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) doesn’t feel as though Foster is serious about fighting him. This past Saturday night, at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, William Zepeda, who Stevenson beat in July 2025, and Lamont Roach, battled it out for the vacant WBC lightweight title.

Zepeda (34-1, 27 KOs) easily outworked and dominated his man to become a world champion. From Stevenson’s point of view, if Foster wanted to fight him that badly, he should’ve held onto the interim title and forced his hand.

“He had the opportunity to fight for the WBC at 135,” Stevenson continued. “He should’ve been in the position that Lamont Roach was in.”