STAYING active could be Raymond Ford’s path to long-term success.
The 26-year-old secured his second super-featherweight victory after moving up from featherweight, where he briefly held the WBA world title before losing it to Nick Ball.
Ford’s latest win came against Thomas Mattice, who talked a good game before their 10-round bout at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City but offered little when it mattered most. On the same card, Eimantas Stanionis featured in a welterweight title unification, marking only his third fight in three years—a situation Ford is determined to avoid as he pursues another world title.
Speaking to Boxing News, Ford was asked how important staying busy will be. “Very important. I’m young, I’m still a young fighter. Keep getting the experience so I keep getting better and better to a point where no-one can compete with me at all,” he said.
Ford dominated Mattice, who offered little resistance, drawing boos from the crowd as the fight ended in a routine victory for “Savage” Ford. “He [Mattice] was telling me stay in the pocket and things like that. It didn’t seem like that. It felt like he was fighting in spurts to try and catch me with a big shot. So, I still had to be cautious with things like that and pace myself. He was trying to throw me off my game. He was saying, ‘Oh yeah that’s what I like’ or ‘Yeah, yeah you trying hard so let’s get it big.’ And I’m like ‘C’mon let’s get it big,'” Ford said.
Mattice briefly lifted Ford during the fight, which amused the former featherweight champion. “It was fun until it wasn’t fun no more and I started getting bored,” Ford reflected.
“I was trying to get the knockout. It was fun at first but after a while I was hitting him with shots and he weren’t really trying to engage. I see he was trying to survive at a point in time and I got bored in there, I wanted to try and get him out of there.”
Ford’s attention now turns to a potential world title shot. In six weeks, Eduardo Nunez will face Masanori Rikiishi in Yokohama, Japan, for the vacant IBF super-featherweight title on May 28. Ford stressed that staying active remains crucial, even if a title fight isn’t next. “Hopefully Nunez [next] but if not I’ll take one more stay busy fight because I don’t want to be sitting down. Like I said, I want to be active staying ready,” he said.
