O’Shaquie Foster (25-3, 12 KOs) and Raymond Ford (18-2-1, 8 KOs) squared off last night at the Fertitta Center in Houston, Texas, in a bout for Foster’s WBC super featherweight world title.
Foster emerged victorious thanks to a strong second half of the fight, during which he took control of the action, became more active and aggressive, and landed the most significant punches of the contest. He earned a majority decision victory with scorecards of 114-114, 116-112, and 118-110.
Foster successfully retained his WBC belt, but it was the post-fight events that truly energized the crowd. Shakur Stevenson entered the ring and openly challenged Foster, leading to a heated face-off in classic American fashion.
“I told you I was gonna beat your son,” Foster told Shakur, a clear reference to Stevenson’s close friendship with Ford.
Inside the ring, the fight itself was just as rough and at times entertaining. In the very first round, in the middle of a clinch, Foster decided to throw Ford through the ropes, sending him crashing outside the ring. Referee Jon Schorle inexplicably chose not to penalize Foster, who certainly appeared deserving of a point deduction.
During the early rounds, Ford moved intelligently, using his southpaw stance and excellent reflexes to repeatedly catch his opponent with straight punches. Foster tried to apply pressure, but he hesitated too much during this phase, allowing Ford to make the most of his timing and control the action from mid-range. Although Foster found success with his right hand more often in the third round, Ford appeared to have the edge in the first half of the fight thanks to his greater accuracy and consistency.
As the bout reached its midpoint with the outcome still uncertain, Foster shifted gears. He became much more active and began throwing more combinations. Confidently taking control of the center of the ring, he capitalized on Ford’s increasingly passive approach and started letting his hands go with extended combinations to both the head and body. His effective body work seemed to gradually sap Ford’s reflexes and stamina.
Ford attempted to respond in the tenth round, landing a right hook followed by a sharp one-two combination, but Foster remained composed. In the championship rounds, he made it clear that he deserved the victory, first landing a left hook that caused heavy bleeding from Ford’s nose, then finishing the fight aggressively with effective combinations that extinguished Ford’s hopes. By the final bell, the challenger looked tired and sluggish.
O’Shaquie Foster therefore retained his WBC super featherweight world title. For the 32-year-old Houston native, the door should now open to unification bouts against the other titleholders in the division: Emanuel Navarrete, the current IBF and WBO champion, and Anthony Cacace, the WBA champion.
That is, of course, aside from the verbal dispute with Shakur Stevenson, the current WBO light welterweight champion and, in this writer’s opinion, simply beyond Foster’s reach in terms of both size and boxing ability. Foster does not appear to possess the punching power necessary to trouble Stevenson, nor does he seem to have the physical frame required to move up successfully to the light welterweight division.