Raymond Ford could be on the cusp of becoming a breakthrough star when he defends his WBA featherweight title against Nick Ball this Saturday night in Riyadh.
The Matchroom-promoted Ford (15-0, 8 KOs) has the perfect opportunity to be seen by boxing fans who normally wouldn’t see him due to him being on the loaded 5 vs 5 card and shown DAZN PPV.
Many fans will be getting the chance to see Ford for the first time, and he’s got the ideal opponent to put on a show against pressure fighter Nick Ball (19-0, 11 KOs).
Ford will likely vacate his WBA 126-lb title after this fight and move up to super featherweight to make it easier for him to lose weight.
In Ford’s previous fight, he stopped Otebek Khomatov in the twelfth round last March to win the vacant WBA featherweight title in a drama-filled content. If Ford’s fight with Ball is anything near that, they could steal the show.
Ball looked great in his last fight, battling to a twelve-round draw against WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas last March.
It’s a fast turnaround for Ball to return to the ring so soon after that grueling fight, but he wouldn’t turn down this opportunity to fight for another world title in this high-profile event in Riyadh.
“Could he be that guy?”
“Raymond Ford could be that star. He looks good and speaks well. Could he be that guy to take that next step to join the stars that America has already got?” said Ade Oladipo to DAZN boxing about WBA featherweight champion Raymond Ford, who defends against Nick Ball on Saturday night.
The only negative about Ford is that he’ll be leaving the 126-lb division to go up to 130. So, as good as he looks against Ball, we don’t know what Ford will look like when he begins campaigning at 130.
He will have to start all over again, and there’s no guarantee that he will find the same success at super featherweight that he did at 126.
“I think this is the fight to do that for him,” said Shawn Porter about Ford. “This is the card. You need people to see you. If it wasn’t for this card, people aren’t paying to see him right now.
“He just hasn’t been given the platform to create a name for himself, but what you do as a young fighter is you take advantage of that you’re going before these hot names. You stake your claim, ‘Hey, I’m next,’ and I think he gets it done on fight night.”
If Ford looks good in this fight against Bell, he’ll have a lot of fans that will know about him, and will follow his career as he moves up to 130 to fight the bigger guys in that weight class.
“It’s a great clash of styles too. If that fight with Rey Vargas was a 15 round fight, Nick Ball would have won,” said boxing commentator Chris Mannix. “Rey Vargas controlled the first half. Nick Ball came on and was relentless with his pressure in the second half.”
Ball would have lost the fight to Vargas if the referee had waived off the knockdown in round eight when he shoved Rey and then hit him when he was off-balance
The Saudi Arabia Factor
“Raymond Ford won his last fight by knockout, but he’s far more a boxer than a brawler,” said Mannix. “He’s going to try and box more in this fight. Nick Ball is going to be on him from moment one. So, the style match-up is great. The fact that this fight is in Saudi Arabia matters because Raymond Ford was not staying at 126 any longer.”
Ford is not a puncher, and the only reason he stopped Khomatov is because he’d injured his knee, and the referee waved it off after he fell into the ropes in the twelfth round because of his injury.
“Raymond Ford has to nearly kill himself to get down to the 126-lb limit, but because the money is so great for this fight against Nick Ball, he’s sticking around one more time, defending his title and he’s going to be in a great fight on June 1st,” said Mannix.
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