On Saturday night in Houston and streamed live on DAZN, O’Shaquie Foster (pictured) defends the WBC junior lightweight title against Raymond Ford, an ex-featherweight champ. The animosity between Foster and Ford heated up when they were ringside at the Emmanuel Navarrete-Sugar Nunez fight in Phoenix at the end of February. Foster and Ford were in each other's faces, sizing each other up with Ford telling the champion, "You can't beat me." On Tuesday, Foster (24-3, 12 KOs) and Ford (18-1-1, 8 KOs) went face to face for the first time during fight week. And things get testy extremely quickly. Moments into their staredown, they inched closer and started trading barbs at one another, which led to a hard shove by Foster, and they were immediately separated.

 

 

Foster (24-3, 12 KOs) will be fighting in his hometown for the first title defense of his second reign. He regained the belt by besting Robson Conceicao by split decision in a November 2024 rematch. The 32-year-old had been scheduled to defend his title in December against Stephen Fulton. But Fulton blew weight and the bout took place at 135 pounds. That didn't matter as Foster routed Fulton by decision.  Now, Fulton gets to settle the feud with Ford and cement his place as the man to beat at 130 pounds.

 

“I’m happy and excited to fight at home for the first time as a World champion - it’s a dream come true,” Foster said in a statement at the time the fight was announced. “We will be 1,000 per cent prepared, and we will dominate from round one.”

 

 

Ford (18-1-1 8 KOs) looks to gain championship gold in a new weight class. He's won three consecutive fights since his brief WBA title reign ended vs. Nick Ball by a narrow split decision in June 2024, which many felt should have gone Ford's way. 

 

A new weight and the chance to let Foster know who the better of the two is on May 30. "I'm just happy he finally signed the contract,” Ford said in April. “When it came down to it, I was the biggest fight out there for him, and now it's time to fight, and I can't wait for it. He's a good name for my resume, and I'm taking that belt on May 30 and becoming a two-weight world champion.”