{"id":611597,"date":"2026-04-16T22:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T22:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/611597\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T22:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T22:05:10","slug":"oshaquie-foster-to-defend-wbc-title-vs-raymond-ford-on-may-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/611597\/","title":{"rendered":"O’Shaquie Foster to defend WBC title vs. Raymond Ford on May 30"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Andreas HaleApr 17, 2026, 07:58 AM<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Andreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM’s Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film “Bridges” in 2024.<\/p>\n

Multiple Authors<\/p>\n

WBC junior lightweight champion O’Shaquie Foster will defend his title against Raymond Ford in his hometown of Houston on May 30.<\/p>\n

The fight will take place at the Fertitta Center and stream live, globally on DAZN.<\/p>\n

Foster (24-3, 12 KOs) is coming off an impressive rout<\/a> of former two-division champion Stephen Fulton in December. He’s won 14 of his last 15 fights and is ESPN’s No. 2 ranked junior lightweight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

1 Related<\/p>\n

“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. “We will be 1,000-percent prepared, and we will dominate from round one.”<\/p>\n

Fighting out of Camden, New Jersey, Ford (18-1-1, 8 KOs) has won three straight fights since losing the WBA featherweight title<\/a> to Nick Ball in 2024. He’s currently ranked No. 4 in the 130-pound division.<\/p>\n

“I’m just happy he finally signed the contract,” Ford said. “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.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andreas HaleApr 17, 2026, 07:58 AM CloseAndreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-611597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}