WBA featherweight champion Raymond Ford feels he can have fun dominating his opponent when he takes on challenger Nick Ball this Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs) will be looking to impress promoter Eddie Hearn and boxing fans and lead the Matchroom team to victory when he takes on Queensberry in a “Five on Five” event broadcast live on DAZN PPV.
Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs) is a tough fighter who could take Ford by surprise if he isn't prepared for his brawling style, which is a very different style from Ford's previous opponent, Otabek Kormatov, last March.
Ford's winning blueprint
“I'm just doing what I want to do and having fun. I'm enjoying every moment of the fight and being in control from the first round until the end,” WBA featherweight champion Raymond Ford told Boxing News about what it will take to beat Nick Ball in a 12-round bout on Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ford is a boxer and likely planned to box with Ball, who is a diminutive 5'2″, to ensure Ball would not use violent tactics to make the fight more physical.
“For sure. I don't want to say why, but I know I can win,” Ford said when asked if he thought he could win the match. “It's up to him and his team to prove me wrong.”
Ford would be wrong to underestimate Ball because he's a lot tougher than people think — polite in the run-up to the fight but a completely different person once inside the ring.
Evaluating Ball's games so far
“I thought it was decent. I don't think much of Rey Vargas, so I don't know,” Ford said of what he thought of the 12th-round draw between Nick Ball and Rey Vargas in Riyadh in March. “He was [Ball] did [enough to win]. “
Ball should have lost his bout against WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas because he was credited with shoving and punching the champion and scoring a knockdown in the eighth round.
It was a false knockdown, but the umpires didn't have much control over Ball's tactics, and if they have the same officials in charge on Saturday, Ford will have some problems because Ball will undoubtedly manhandle him.
“It's not a surprise, everyone knows what I'm capable of, so it's understandable,” Ford said when asked if he was surprised the boxers hadn't taken a crack at him. “I definitely want to move up a weight class and get another title. I don't want to stay at 126 and defend the WBA for the rest of my career.”
Ford is not popular. That's another reason why no fighter criticizes him. If he was a famous fighter, he would be criticized. He is only 25 years old and has been a pro for a short time, so he hasn't built a big fan base yet.
Beyond the Featherweight Division
“To be great, you need to step up and get a fresh start, fight new people in a new weight class. Maybe it will happen, we'll just have to wait and see,” Ford said on whether this will be his final fight at featherweight.
Unless promoter Eddie Hearn has something in store for Ford at 126, he'll likely move up. Outside of a unification bout with IBF champion Luis Lopez, the featherweight division is dead. Ford would be better off fighting at 130 unless he wants to wait and see if Naoya Inoue moves up, but Ford doesn't seem in any rush to leave 122.
“It's easy. I feel good right now. I have energy. Everything's good right now. I'm not too far off the weight,” Ford said about whether he was struggling to make weight on Friday.
