Navarrete, known for relentlessly spraying the canvas with wild strokes, met his match against Foster, who painted a masterpiece in a career-best performance at Frost Bank Center to headline a Top Rank Boxing card on DAZN.

Foster took Navarrete to school and outclassed him by being faster, stronger and more accurate, all while effectively marrying his offense and defense together in a fight that featured non-stop action from bell to bell. And before the final bell sounded, Foster knocked down Navarrete twice in the 12th to ensure there were no doubts about who’s the best 130-pounder in the world.

Foster (26-3, 12 KOs), the WBC titleholder, snatched the IBF and WBO belts away from Navarrete (40-3-1, 33 KOs), in a shootout and picked up the vacant Ring title along the way.

A pro-Navarrete crowd didn’t sway the judges, who scored the contest 118-108, 118-108 and 115-111 in favor of Foster.

CompuBox credited Foster with landing 157 of 451 punches while Navarrete landed 99 of 527.

“I told y’all before, I felt like I was the better inside fighter and a better outside fighter, and I proved that tonight. Hats off to Navarrete, but I just knew I was levels above him,” Foster said during his post-fight remarks.

“I knew he was gonna be strong and awkward. He’s a great champion. I just had a little bit more in me tonight … He could punch, but I have a chin and I’m strong.”

Foster took a page from Navarrete’s playbook from the first round and landed a pair of sweeping left hands, with the first one connecting 30 seconds into the fight. Foster’s speed appeared to give the more physical Navarrete some serious problems from the opening stanza, as CompuBox didn’t credit him with landing a single punch in the frame. Foster landed six.

Navarrete made the fight ugly and physical in the second without much offensive success, as it was Foster who was connecting with the crisper 1-2s, all while targeting the body as well.

Navarrete further pushed the pace in the third and forced Foster into the corner and landed a big right, followed shortly after with a left, too. The punches partly glanced off Foster’s gloves. But the sequence was certainly confidence-building for Navarrete, which forced a sly smile from Foster, who then leaped back in with a left and stepped out for a counter right.

Navarette’s footwork and balance remained unstable in the fourth, and Foster timed him with sharper right counters.

Foster continued standing his ground in the fifth while Navarrete moved in to swing — and miss — violently multiple times. Foster made him pay by dipping, dodging and darting back with a sharp uppercut.

Foster continued catching and countering in the sixth and momentarily stunned Navarrete with a right uppercut. By the halfway point of the fight, Foster outlanded him 60-32, scoring with 34 percent of his punches. Navarrete was at 15 percent at the time.

Foster continued the momentum into the seventh, highlighted by a chin-checking left hook. Navarrete answered with a throat-throttling uppercut.

Navarrete started to show signs of fatigue in the eighth and ninth rounds as Foster continued beating him to the punch.

“We knew he was an exceptional and strong fighter and a complete fighter. I’m happy with my performance, and perhaps I could have pushed more,” Navarrete said during his post-fight interview.

“This sport is all about styles. His style was better than mine tonight, and he won tonight. He beat me, logically. I tried all that I could to connect but his style was better than mine. So I want to congratulate him, and everyone, please applaud him.”

By the 10th, it was Foster walking him down. Navarrete tried tiring him with a dedicated attack to the body to no avail, although it was arguably his best round since the third.

Foster stepped on the gas again in the 11th and 12th to ensure he wouldn’t slip in the championship rounds.

A chopping right hand to the chin dropped Navarrete in the opening minute. He held himself up with his glove, but the damage was already done — and more followed. Moments later, Foster connected again with a counter right that dropped Navarrete to a knee. He got back up and bravely finished the fight to save himself from a stoppage loss.

“My coaches just told me to go out and put them on his ass. and that’s what I did,” Foster said. “I knew from watching film that he liked to lunge in and I just kept picturing that overhand right catching him, and it finally came in the 12th round. I felt like I was breaking him down throughout the fight, and I just timed him real good on that last round.”

Both boxers came into the bout on the back of tremendous momentum. “Ice Water” Foster, a 33-year-old career-long underdog from Orange, Texas, sported solid decision wins against Raymond Ford in May and Stephen Fulton in December.

Navarrete, a former 122- and 126-pound titleholder and a lightweight title challenger, came into the clash as a slight betting underdog even after sensationally stopping Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez in February in a separate title unification bout. Bookmakers were at odds with Navarrete due to a recent run of uneven results and a record of 2-1-1 with a no-contest over the last three years.

Foster was clearly cut to rise to the occasion against “Vaquero” Navarrete, a 31-year-old Mexico native, especially after outlasting other Mexican fighters in recent years such as Rey Vargas and Eduardo “Rocky” Hernandez, both of whom presented complicated fighting styles.

With the victory, Foster should receive some serious consideration for The Ring’s pound-for-pound list while also being shortlisted for Fighter of the Year.

As for what’s next for Foster, an undisputed title fight against WBA crownholder Anthony Cacace, who defends his title against Nick Ball on December 19, would make all the sense. Foster also has WBO mandatory challenger Charly Suarez waiting in the wings.

However, matchups against higher-profile opponents, headlined by Vasiliy Lomachenko who was ringside and plans to unretire for a run at 130 pounds, Shakur Stevenson, Gervonta Davis, Rafael Espinoza and lightweight titleholders Floyd Schofield (WBO), William Zepeda (WBC) and Abdullah Mason (WBO), would prove to be just as meaningful.

“I’m focused on being the best I can be. I’m trying to go undisputed for sure, but you know Stevenson is at the top of the list,” Foster said.

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan