Boxing News Hall of Fame writer Graham Houston breaks down the O’Shaquie Foster vs Raymond Ford 130lbs title fight in Texas on Saturday and offers his best tips.
O’Shaquie Foster vs Raymond Ford Tips Preview
O’Shaquie Foster sees himself as levels above Raymond Ford. He talks about moving up in weight to challenge Shakur Stevenson. But is Foster getting too far ahead of himself? We’ll see on Saturday night when Foster defends his WBC super featherweight title against Ford in Houston, Texas, with DAZN broadcasting.
“Shock” Foster has the advantage in experience and he’s the naturally bigger man. Foster is taller, has the longer reach and he’s fought as heavy as lightweight.
Ford, meanwhile, has boxed in the featherweight division for most of his career although his last three bouts were at 130lbs.
And Foster is on home ground in Houston. So, there are obvious advantages on the Foster side.
Still, this isn’t an easy fight for Foster, as shown by the odds. Foster is only a 4/7 favourite.
This should be the sort of fight where viewers are treated to 12 rounds of high level, nip-and-tuck boxing.
Ford calls himself “Savage” but that nickname is misleading. The 27-year-old left-hander from Camden, New Jersey is more of a technician than an aggressor. He’s fast and skilled with excellent hand speed and he’s a former champion at 126lbs.
Liverpool’s Nick Ball proved a bit too strong and insistent for Ford in a close fight two years ago, with Ford losing his WBC title in his first defence, via split decision.
Ford moved up in weight after the bout and he’s won three fights in a row at 130, all comfortably on points against solid competition, to bring his record to 18-1-1 (8 KOs).
There’s a commonality here in that Ford and Foster each pulled off a dramatic last-round win in a fight they were losing: Ford stopped Uzbekistan’s Otabek Kholmatov with seven seconds remaining in an all-southpaw thriller while Foster knocked down Eduardo Hernandez twice to win with 22 seconds to go.
Ford has the amateur pedigree (national Golden Gloves champion) but Foster has been in the bigger fights and he is more seasoned professionally with a 24-3 (12 KOs) record.
Foster first really caught the eye back in 2018 when he outclassed the tall, hard-hitting Spanish fighter Jon Fernandez, who was 16-0 going into the fight.
He soundly defeated fellow-southpaw Muhammad Yaqubov (18-0 before the bout) and upset the odds with a unanimous decision win over the towering Rey Vargas (36-0 heading into the fight and the betting favourite) to win the WBC super feather title.
Foster is excellent in all departments and he switches smoothly between the orthodox and southpaw styles, but he can sometimes be a little too patient as he seeks to place his punches perfectly.
Brazil’s Olympic gold medallist Robson Conceicao eked out a highly debatable split decision over Foster simply by doing a little more in rounds where not a lot was happening.
(ESPN’s unofficial scorer Mark Kriegel gave Foster 11 of the 12 rounds and seemed genuinely baffled by the decision.)
However, Foster turned the tables in a rematch although here again he let rounds get away from him by not being busy. But Foster boxed beautifully in his last fight when easily defeating former two-weight world champion Stephen Fulton, who came in overweight and was never in the fight.
O’Shaquie Foster vs Raymond Ford Tale of Tape
O’Shaquie Foster | Raymond Ford | |
Record: | 24-3 (12 KO) | 18-1-1 (8 KO) |
Age: | 32 | 27 |
Birthplace: | Orange, Texas, USA | Camden, New Jersey, USA |
Height: | 5′ 8″ / 174cm | 5' 7″ / 170cm |
Stance: | Orthodox | Southpaw |
Last Fight: | Won (UD) vs Stephen Fulton (Dec 2025) | Won (UD) vs Abraham Nova (Aug 2025) |
KO%: | 50% | 44.44% |
Alias: | 'Ice Water’ | 'Savage’ |
O’Shaquie Foster vs Raymond Ford Top Tips
Foster is poised and precise while Ford brings speed and southpaw energy, so there’s a compelling contrast in styles.
Neither man is an especially hard hitter and each has shown a good chin, so this is a contest that should go the distance.
It will probably all come down to which fighter can win most of the rounds.
I think that will most likely be Foster. I can visualise him using the shoulder-roll style to make Ford miss and then landing crisp counters.
Ford will need to be speedy, using movement and angles. He has the hand-speed advantage. If Ford can trigger off fast bursts of punches he can steal rounds. But Foster’s accuracy and timing are likely to give Ford problems.
And fighting against southpaws doesn’t seem to be an issue with Foster. He is adept at switching to the southpaw stance himself. Muhammad Yaqubov’s southpaw stance was no problem at all for Foster.
I’ll go with Foster by decision at even money. I think he will be able to time Ford and land the sort of clean, clear shots that the judges like to see. However, I believe Ford will probably be the busier fighter, so Ford “most punches thrown” looks promising as an even-money bet.
All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
