What to Know
- O’Shaquie Foster successfully defended his WBC World Super-Featherweight title against Raymond Ford by majority decision Saturday at the Fertitta Center in Houston. Scores were 118-110, 116-114, and one card even.
- Foster immediately invited Shakur Stevenson into the ring, where the two had a heated discussion face-to-face as Stevenson promised revenge for his New Jersey stablemate.
- Foster also has the option to take on the top fighter in the division, Emanuel Navarrete.
O’Shaquie Foster of Houston (25-3, 12 KOs) came on strong in the second half of his title defense against Raymond Ford of Camden, New Jersey (18-2-1, 8 KOs), pulling away to successfully defend his WBA World Super-Featherweight title in an impressive display of skills in his eighth world title fight.
Scores were all over the place: 118-110, 116-114, and even, giving Foster the majority decision in front of his hometown fans in Houston, Texas.
Ford Gets Great Start, But Foster Pulls Away
Ford made it a razor-thin fight in the first six rounds. But Foster adjusted as Ford faded, and the difference between the two competitors became clear as Foster delivered a slick offensive performance. It didn’t help Ford that it was his first fight since last summer, or that perhaps he struggled a bit to make weight. These are small issues, but in a close fight, those minor factors matter.
Foster credited his ring IQ and ability to adjust for the win. He admitted he started off slowly as Ford was sharp early, but he knew he would start picking him apart.
I’m one of the best, I’m one of the smartest people in this ring, man. And all I needed to do was adjust, man,” said Foster. “I knew what he was gonna come in and wanted to do, and I just took everything away from him. I knew what his strengths was, and you know that’s what my plan was.”
Foster said his ability to punch from angles also gave him the upper hand. He expressed surprise that Ford wasn’t more aggressive coming forward. “He kept talking about he was gonna stop me, and he was gonna hurt me, break me. So you see, from the first round I stepped to him, and he didn’t know what to do with it.”
Foster and Stevenson Get Hot in Houston
Immediately following the announcement of the decision, Foster waved Shakur Stevenson into the right, who had been cheering on his fellow Jersey stablemate. The two men got extremely loud and incredibly close, to borrow a phrase. They heatedly vowed to take down the other.
O’SHAQUIE FOSTER AND SHAKUR STEVENSON GET INTO IT! 😱#FosterFord | Live NOW on DAZN ▪️ pic.twitter.com/7KC3NF5eRZ
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 31, 2026
Meanwhile, Raymond Ford left the ring in disappointment. Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn acknowledged Foster as a deserving winner.
“Ray Ford’s a great fighter, probably a little bit of inexperience in the championship rounds,” said Hearn. “(I) thought 118-110 was well off, but O’Shaquie Foster is a deserved champion tonight for his great performance.”
Whether Top Rank chooses to pit Foster against his stablemate Emanuel Navarrete or let Foster take on Stevenson, both options give boxing fans a terrific fight to look forward to.
Ford will need to take the lessons from his loss and move forward. It wasn’t a beatdown of a loss, and Ford still has plenty to offer in a competitive division.
Undercard Highlights: Sheehy Gets KO in Return
In the co-main event, prospect Charlie Sheehy of San Francisco (13-0, 8 KOs) returned to Matchroom Boxing with a knockout victory in the competitive lightweight division against Nike Theran of Colombia (20-3, 14 KOs). Sheehy invested early and often to the body of Theran, knowing he had a solid chin and laying the groundwork to weaken him.
Theran did what he could to make the fight ugly, and did what he could to survive, but he couldn’t keep taking those shots. In the ninth round, Sheehy’s patient assault finally caught up with Theran as he drilled him with hooks, spiced up with a few lefts to the liver, and a flurry ending with a hard left hook and right hand to drop Theran and stop him at 1:51 of the round.
Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Omari Jones of Orlando (7-0, 4 KOs) scored an early knockdown and got a shutout on all three scorecards, but couldn’t figure out how to close the show over the last-minute opponent in Diego Zuniga of Des Moines, Iowa (9-1, 6 KOs). Props to Zuniga for hanging in tough for the moral victory, but Zuniga only landed 29 of 211 punches thrown against 136 punches landed of 496 for the 23-year-old super welterweight Jones.
On the early undercard, super featherweight Zaquin Moses of Newark, New Jersey (6-0, 3 KOs) also got a shutout on all three scorecards in his six-round bout with Travis Crawford of Corpus Christi, Texas (7-7, 2 KOs).
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.