HOUSTON, Texas – O’Shaquie Foster has warned Raymond Ford off attempting to “mimic” Shakur Stevenson and dismissed his challenger on Saturday as a “lower version of Shakur”.
It is at the Fertitta Center that Ford attempts to dethrone Foster as the WBC junior-lightweight champion, and therefore to win a world title – following his brief reign as the WBA featherweight champion – at a second weight.
The 32-year-old Foster regardless represents one of the world’s most in-form and improving fighters, as he has demonstrated since winning the vacant title in 2023 against Rey Vargas and retaining it throughout fights with Eduardo Hernandez and Abraham Nova and, after a controversial decision, winning it back in an immediate rematch with Robson Conceicao.
Most recently Foster recorded his finest victory at lightweight against Stephen Fulton in a match-up that, not unlike Saturday’s, was widely considered difficult to predict, but not unlike Ford, he and his trainer Bobby Benton are convinced that he is continuing to improve and that the win over Fulton demonstrated that he is at his peak.
There is a respect from them for the abilities of the 27-year-old Ford but there is also, from Foster, the admission that their rivalry has become particularly “personal” – even though he insists that his judgement of Ford the fighter come from his head and not his heart.
It was against Nick Ball in 2024 that Ford sacrificed on the occasion of his first title defence the WBA title at 126lbs before choosing to move up in weight, and Foster told BoxingScene: “Before Ball he was a little bit more active. Now he’s tryna mimic Shakur; sitting back and picking shots and doing all that. I definitely seen his style change.
“He’s southpaw; he’s from New Jersey, so that’s who he looked up to and wanna fight like. I don’t feel it’s hard for me to imitate [Stevenson’s] style – I get what he do and I get what they do best and what they do at their weakest moments. [But] he’s the lower version of Shakur – they both do the same things.
“I think he’s a good, talented fighter. He’s got an all-round game that’s pretty good.
“I fought a lot of guys – everybody I fought was always in the top 10, since 2020. The [difference between the] likes of Ford and Rey Vargas, who was accomplished champions in several weight classes – we’ll just have to see.
“[Ford’s strengths are his] speed, and his athleticism with the guys that he was facing. I don’t feel as if he’s faced another athletic guy across the ring from him, like myself. But I do think that’s his best attribute – his speed.
“I’ve [also] seen a lot of holes I can take advantage of. But I don’t wanna give away none of ‘em. Defence and offence I see holes. All around I see things.
“I really don’t be looking into that triangle-theory thing but in this case it’s not really that far off, as far as [Brandon] Figueroa being a pressure fighter, Ball [who lost to Figueroa, who lost to Fulton] being a pressure fighter, and knowing how to deal with that kind of pressure. I think Fulton would have beat Ball – he’d have made it look easy as well, the way he fight, so that fight told me a lot about Ford.”
Foster and Ford both being residents of Houston means that their rivalry has had considerable time to build. Ford once accused Foster of not honouring plans they had made to spar, and the tension potentially dating back to then has evolved since the confirmation of Saturday’s date.
There is also the criticism Foster, promoted by Top Rank, has previously aimed at Ford’s promoters Matchroom dating back to his time with them, but he also explained that his concerns with the organisation overseeing Saturday’s promotion are in his past.
“It’s the utmost personal,” he said of his opponent. “This fight is gonna really bring out my talent. It’s gonna really bring out what’s in me, and it’s gonna show a lot of people that I’m different. You can’t just come playing with me; you can’t just be talking any way and all that kinda stuff, so I’m looking forward to really making a statement this fight.
“All the talking, and some of the things they’re saying – him and his trainer [Tarae Stevenson] talking that I won’t be the same after the fight and all that. That’s when it got really personal for me. First it was like ‘If you want beef and all that, that’s cool, we can do that – that’s easy work’. But whenever you start talking about you gonna change my career – you gonna change my life – when I got kids and I got family I need to go home to, that’s when it gets personal for me. This a sport at the end of the day; I don’t go into no fight wishing that nobody leaves the ring unhealthy or not willing them to go back to their family so him saying that made it real personal for me and just showed me that these guys are weak. That’s not even humane, so I’m gonna show ‘em. Don’t ever talk like that.
“I don’t have a problem doing deals with Matchroom now, as far as with Top Rank – they’ve done a lot of fights in the last few months with [Raymond] Muratalla-[Andy] Cruz and [Eduardo] Nunez and [Emanuel] Navarrete, and watching them fight, they made the right decision. When I had to go to Cancun [on a Matchroom bill against Hernandez] and I had the scorecards crazy and everything, for the next year it was definitely on my mind. ‘Yeah, I gotta go away from them kinda situations.’ But I feel like the game has changed and I don’t have to worry about the judges too much, as far as them trying to rob me. I just leave it in God’s hands and try not to think about all that.
“When [the judges] robbed me with the Conceicao fight, and they tried to take the Cancun fight from me, it opened a lot of people’s eyes to bad judging and all of that. So I just don’t think too much into it no more. I just try to go out there; be me; do me; win the fight decisively; make sure it ain’t no question. All I gotta do is not give it a chance to happen. I gotta show up and stay on point; I stay on point I can’t be going in there having lackadaisical moments and stuff like that. It’s all me. Just stay on point; stay focused.”