O’Shaquie Foster pulled away in the second half to outpoint Raymond Ford and retain his WBC super featherweight title on Saturday at the Fertitta Center in Houston, then turned his attention to the fighter he has been chasing, Ford’s close friend and Ring and WBO junior welterweight champion Shakur Stevenson. The Matchroom Boxing card aired on DAZN.
Foster (25-3, 12 KOs) won by majority decision after 12 rounds. One judge scored it even at 114-114, while the other two saw it 118-110 and 116-112 for the champion. Ford (18-2-1, 8 KOs), the former WBA featherweight titleholder moving up in search of a second divisional belt, was unable to close the gap on the cards. There were no knockdowns.
Foster pressed forward early behind his jab rather than settling into his usual counterpunching, and the opening round drew the two into a heated exchange along the ropes. Ford found his footing in the second, timing the champion with sharp left hands as a southpaw, digging to the body, and making Foster pay when he overcommitted. The early rounds were closely contested, with the fighters trading momentum and Ford’s pressure dictating the tempo in stretches. At the midway point, DAZN’s Chris Mannix had Ford ahead 67-66 on his unofficial card.
The fight tilted toward Foster through the middle rounds. He raised his output, stepped into range behind the jab, and mixed in the uppercut and a check right hand that repeatedly forced Ford to reset. By the seventh, Foster was largely setting the terms. Ford mounted a final push in the 10th, landing body shots and briefly backing Foster to the ropes in one of his better rounds of the second half, but he could not sustain it. Foster took the 11th and 12th to seal the decision. The spread on the scorecards, from even to 118-110, reflected differing reads of a tight contest.
The result set up a heated exchange after the final bell. Stevenson, who had publicly picked Ford to win, came face to face with Foster in the ring. Foster has repeatedly named Stevenson as the fight he wants next, a matchup that would require him to move up from 130 pounds to junior welterweight. Stevenson took the Ring and WBO 140-pound titles from Teofimo Lopez at Madison Square Garden in January to become a four-division champion, and was later stripped of his WBC lightweight title. Yahoo Sports has round-by-round coverage of the bout and the post-fight confrontation.
Undercard Results
Charlie Sheehy def. Nike Theran, ninth-round TKO (1:51), lightweight; Sheehy improves to 13-0 (8 KOs)
Omari Jones def. Diego Zuniga, unanimous decision (80-71 x3), super welterweight, with a first-round knockdown; Jones improves to 7-0
Javon Woodard Jr. def. Miguel Flores, eighth-round TKO (2:31); Woodard improves to 17-2 (15 KOs)
Zaquin Moses def. Travis Crawford, unanimous decision (60-54 x3), super featherweight
Jahyden Britton def. Najee West, fourth-round TKO, super middleweight
Frank Espinoza def. Bryce Blackwell, fourth-round retirement (corner stoppage), middleweight
Julian Montalvo def. Maximus Moya, fourth-round TKO, super featherweight
