WBA featherweight champion Raymond Ford weighed in at 125.4 lbs, and challenger Nick Ball scaled in at 125.8 lbs for the weigh-in on Friday for this Saturday’s ‘5 vs. 5’ Queensberry vs. Matchroom event in Riyadh.
Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs) and Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs) started off looking, staring menacing at one another during the face-off, but neither of them could stay in character, and both started smiling and laughing before turning away to face the media.
It will be an interesting fight because Ford is coming off a grueling contest against Otabek Kholmatov last March in Verona, New York, and this one against Ball could be even more difficult.
Ford looked pretty drained today from making weight, and we’ll see if it took something out of him on Saturday. The 25-year-old Ford had planned on moving up to 130 to make life easier on himself, but he chose to stay at 126 for this fight against the 5’2″ Ball, who looked huge at the weigh-in.
Promoter Eddie Hearn spoke about seeing Ball’s weight at the scales, and he says he was a “big lump.” The earlier weigh-in is the true weigh-in. When they come out for the media, it’s for ceremony purposes. Ball will be pretty big on Saturday night as well. These two could look like light welterweights by tomorrow night.
Hearn’s High Praise for Both Fighters
“You’ve got Raymond Ford vs. Nick Ball, which, for me, it’s the top two featherweights in the world,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to TNT Sports Boxing 5 vs. 5 Weigh in, Queensberry vs. Matchroom.
“Don’t forget; I’m sure people are aware that there’s an earlier, and that’s the ceremonial weigh-in. You get to see the numbers on the scales that the guys are now weighing, and Nick Ball is a big lump. He’s rehydrated nice and tasty. But Ray is very, very good.”
Ford says he’ll fight whichever Ball chooses to. If that’s true, this could be a close-quarters brawl because that’s how Ball likes to fight. It’s questionable whether Ford can win that kind of a fight becasue he’s not a great inside fighter like Ball.
“You’re talking about Shakur and Devin. He’s from that same kind of mold, but Nick is a handful for anyone,” said Hearn.
“Me having fun in there. Me going in and dominating and taking over the whole fight from round one until whenever it ends,” said Raymond Ford.
In Ford’s last fight, he was losing Kholmatov until pulling out a miracle twelfth-round knockout. He did not look good until scoring the knockout, and that was against a fighter with an injured knee. If Kholmatov’s knee weren’t messed up, he would have won.
“Nah, I just didn’t like their energy, but tomorrow and all this other stuff, walking about and acting tough and saying whatever they were saying in the interviews, that isn’t going to matter,” said Ford when asked if Ball has been getting under his skin this week.
“What matters is tomorrow. That’s when we’re really going to get into that. I’m happy,” said Ford.
“I’m ready to go now,” said Nick Ball, who had very little to say.
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