What to Know about Foster vs Ford
- O’Shaquie Foster will defend his WBC World Super-Featherweight title against Raymond Ford at the Fertitta Center in Houston, Texas, on Saturday, May 30. It will air on DAZN Boxing.
- The bad blood between Foster and Ford is real, with both camps chirping at each other and the news conference faceoff ending in a shove on Thursday.
- Foster sees a successful defense as a stepping stone to a fight with pound-for-pound star Shakur Stevenson.
The bad blood is real between O’Shaquie Foster and Raymond Ford. Fans got a preview of how fight night might go down on Saturday in Houston at Thursday’s pre-fight news conference.
The stakes are high. Foster of Houston (24-3, 12 KOs) makes the first defense of the title after winning the belt back in a rematch with Robson Conceicao in 2024 via split decision. He believes a win is his ticket to a massive matchup with pound-for-pound star Shakur Stevenson.
Ford of Camden, New Jersey (18-1-1 8 KOs) won the WBA World Super-Featherweight title against Otabek Kholmatov in what was considered a 2024 Fight of the Year.
Ford will now pursue becoming a two-weight division champion with his shot at Foster, proving he is among the elite in the super featherweight division. The main card gets started at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, with prelims at 5:45 p.m. ET/2:45 p.m. PT, all on DAZN Boxing.
Foster Plays It Cool, Ford Not Playing
During fight week, the hometown favorite Foster has been all smiles, relaxed and eager to defend his title.
It’s hard to tell whether Ford is angry, focused, or both. There is a dark cloud surrounding him, and he vowed there will be no clearing the air and no respectful handshake after the fight when one man’s hand is raised on Saturday night.
Foster and Ford have traded harsh words over social media and at press conferences, with Foster stating he wants to ‘shut little dude up’ and both men refusing to even touch gloves.
Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn had to play the role of mediator on Thursday to ensure the pair wouldn’t get started early. While holding back the two super featherweights during the faceoff, he couldn’t stop the lightning quick two-handed shove by Ford of Foster, who merely laughed it off.
SOUND UP 🔊
The #FosterFord mic’d up Face Off from today’s presser 🍿
2 DAYS OUT | @DAZNBoxing | @trboxing pic.twitter.com/aC4VLjKFyy
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) May 29, 2026
Ford’s promoter Hearn loves it, but he knows there’s a time to calm things down, and that’s on Saturday in the ring.
“Everybody’s talking about this fight. Everybody’s excited. You’ve got a guy from Houston, you’ve got a guy that trains in Houston, you’ve got the teams, you’ve got a sold-out arena, you’ve got people watching around the world,” said Hearn. It will be Matchroom Sport’s first promotion in Houston.
“But for Ray, this is a new experience of emotion, you know, like shouting out to the crowd, you know, shoving O’Shaquie Foster, trying to fight him on the stage. Listen, this is Thursday, so we’re okay. But you can’t take that kind of emotion in a ring on Saturday.”
Foster and Ford Play To the Crowd
Ford’s trainer, Tarae Stevenson, has every confidence in his fighter. “This is the calm before the storm. The storm gonna come Saturday, and ain’t nothing you could do about it.”
Foster’s trainer Bobby Benton said he is the smartest fighter he’s ever trained. “Listen, Ray is a great fighter, but he’ll understand in the first round, and it’s a different level, as far as you’re concerned.”
Ford was a man of few words, but he aimed them like darts at Foster’s heckling hometown fans in Houston. “I’m just ready, but I ain’t really got too much to say,” adding that he would make it look easy. He then told the crowd, “Shut your bitch ass up!”
“Oooohh, so emotional!” said a gleeful Foster. “Y’all can’t fight for him! You’ve been talking for too long.”
Foster said he felt great. “All these dudes over there talking, we ain’t hearing that. We don’t care. We done been through the fire. I come from this kind of crazy whatever.
“I’m ready, man. I’m prepared. I’m happy, and as y’all know, a happy fighter is a dangerous fighter. You feel me? So he’s gonna find out Saturday,” said a smiling Foster.
Foster continued as Ford glared. “They call me ice water. I stay cool, I stay calm, and I flow like water. He’s gonna find out Saturday.
“All that talking, all that rah rah shit, it’s gonna get shut down real quick.” Pointing to Ford’s fans, Foster said, “They’re so nervous, they can’t be quiet for a second. Saturday, they are gonna be crying, they all gonna be hurt, you know?
“I’m going to dominate from round one to the end. If he gets too reckless, like I told him, it’s gonna be a bad night for him, and y’all gonna be hurt. Y’all can do all that screaming. I see why he’s so emotional, because y’all emotional. Calm down, y’all supposed to be helping him! Stay calm.”
Foster said it’s been one of the biggest buildups in his career.
Ford got the last word, and it was succinct. “Just tune in, man.” Ford has been chomping at the bit for exactly this kind of opportunity, ever since he moved up to super featherweight two years ago after his narrow loss to Nick Ball.
Foster vs Ford Prediction
Ford has won three fights at 126 pounds, all against respectable opponents, but nowhere near the elite of the division like Foster.
Foster came up the hard way, grinding for 12 years before his first title fight. He lost a close contest to Robson Conceicao, then got his revenge and his WBC belt in the rematch. Both men have solid resumes, but the edge goes to Foster, especially against super-featherweight division opponents. In his last fight in December, Foster breezed past Stephen Fulton.
Ford struggled to get a decision in a close fight with Abraham Nova last August in Riyadh.
Oddsmakers have Foster as a slight favorite, with Foster at minus 155 and Ford at plus 118. Fans have Foster as an even bigger favorite.
This time, the fans are right. Foster’s confident demeanor is sending a preview as much as a message. Ford will give it his all, though, and it will be fun to watch.
Houston Undercard Highlights
On the undercard, former Matchroom Boxing prospect Charlie Sheehy of San Francisco (12-0, 7 KOs) returns to Matchroom after several fights under a different promoter banner. The grass wasn’t greener for Sheehy, and he hopes to advance his status in the lightweight division starting on Saturday against Nike Theran of Colombia (20-2, 14 KOs).
Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Omari Jones of Orlando (6-0, 4 KOs) will face a last-minute opponent in Diego Zuniga of Des Moines, Iowa (9-0, 6 KOs). Props to Zuniga for taking the fight, but his previous opponents will not prepare him for the elite-level prospect in 23-year-old super welterweight Jones.
Super featherweight Zaquin Moses of Newark, New Jersey (6-0, 3 KOs) faces Travis Crawford of Corpus Christi, Texas (7-6, 2 KOs). No doubt his stablemate and older cousin Shakur Stevenson will be in Houston to watch Moses, and to size up the winner of the main event.
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.