WBA featherweight champion Raymond Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs) says he’ll be ready to go toe-to-toe with challenger Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs) this Saturday, June 1st in the 5V5 event, live on DAZN PPV in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Camden, New Jersey native Ford predicts a knockout victory over the unbeaten Ball, and he wants to put on a show for the fans.
Ford Not Intimidated by Ball’s Reputation
Raymond Ford says he’s not going to let the 5’2″ Ball bully him as he did his last opponent, WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas, who he fought to a questionable 12 round draw last March in Riyadh.
The referee blew a call in giving Ball credit for a knockdown in the eighth when he shoved Vargas and then hit him while he was off balance.
Ball had been shoving and roughing up Vargas the entire fight, but the referee was just there in body only, doing little to police the roughhouse tactics. Vargas should have won the fight, but the blown call and the failure of the referee to penalize resulted in the contest being ruled a draw.
Hopefully, the fight this Saturday will have a good referee to control the fouling so that fans can see a boxing match.
Ford was also involved in a questionable fight in his last bout against Otabek Kholmatov last March in Verona, New York. The referee stopped the fight in the final seconds out of the blue after Kholmatov lost his balance while moving and fell into the ropes, giving Ford credit for a knockout. It was bizarre.
The referee should have stopped the action to let Khomatov got turned around after tripping, but he didn’t. It wasn’t the ideal way for Ford to capture the WBA 126-lb title, but he wasn’t going to turn it down.
“It wasn’t the best performance, but it’s in the past. I can’t change it. Onto the next,” said Nick Ball to TNT Sports Boxing, talking about his last fight against WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas on March 8th, a fight that was scored a 12-round draw.
“I’m a better boxer than [Rey] Vargas. I’m a sharper puncher, and I think I hit harder. I’m faster. I think I got better footwork,” said Raymond Ford.
“What I would do different is bully him in there a little bit. Vargas didn’t want no parts of him,” said Ford on what he would have done to Nick Ball. “He ran from him. I would try to bully the bully.
“I’m the type of fighter that doesn’t mind getting into a firefight with him,” said Ford.
“I’m a whole different animal and whole different fighter,” said Ball when asked where he would be different for Ford than his last opponent, Otabek Kholmatov, who fought with an injured knee and was still winning the fight.
Predictions of a Knockout Victory
“Kholmatov is taller, easier target, a bigger target to hit,” said Ford. “Nick Ball is a smaller target. It’s going to be harder to hit him. He’s going to be all over me, trying to smother me. Otabek, I had to chase him down, so it’s definitely two different fighters. I think so,” said Ford when asked if the Ball fight ends by knockout.
“Everyone knows how I fight, and the last one adds fuel to the fire,” said Ball.
“I think people expect me to move around in this fight. They got another thing coming,” said Ford. “I don’t see any weaknesses in him. I think he’s a tough fighter. He’s going to bring the heat, bring the pressure, he’s going to be physical, and I’m not a guy that backs down from a challenge.
“Just being myself. Going in there and dominating from round one until whenever it ends,” said Ford when asked how he wins. “If he wants to go toe-to-toe, I can beat him up in the pocket. If you want to box, you know I’m a great boxer. So whatever he brings out of me, that’s what I’ll show,” said Ford.
“However I want. We’ll have to wait and see,” said Ball on how he wins against Ford.
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