O’Shaquie Foster (left) and Raymond Ford (right) face off with promoter Eddie Hearn between them ahead of their fight for Foster’s junior lightweight title Saturday, May 30 at Fertitta Center.
Matchroom Boxing
Raymond Ford (left) punches Abraham Nova during the Super Featherweight fight between Raymond Ford and Abraham Nova on the ESports World Cup fight night at the ANB arena on August 16, 2025 in Riyadh.
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O’Shaquie Foster celebrates after winning his fight against Stephen Fulton Jr. at Frost Bank Center on December 6, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.
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If you talk separately with the two boxers fighting for a world title Saturday night at University of Houston’s Fertitta Center, you’d never know there’s any animosity simmering.
“Me and him don’t know each other from a can of paint,” World Boxing Council junior lightweight champion O’Shaquie Foster said from his home gym at Main Street Boxing in downtown Houston. “I don’t know the dude.”
Main event: O’Shaquie Foster (24-3, 12 KOs) vs. Raymond Ford (18-1-1, 8 KOs)
When: Saturday, May 30 (Prelims begin at 4:25, main card begins at 7 p.m.)
Where: Fertitta Center, University of Houston
Tickets: $50-$70, available at Fertitta Center website
TV/Streaming: DAZN
Also on main card: Charlie Sheehy vs. Jaret Gonzalez Quiroz (lightweight)
Omari Jones vs. Alan Sanchez (junior middleweight)
Miguel Flores vs. Javon Woodard Jr. (featherweight)
Five miles up the road at Prince Boxing Gym in Fifth Ward, Raymond Ford says the same.
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“There’s not really a beef, it’s just competition,” said the former featherweight world champion who has moved up in weight class and has his eyes on Foster’s belt. “He’s just got something that I want. He’s a world champion. I feel like people try to make it a beef, but as somebody that’s on the come up and who’s a contender in the division, of course they’re going to want to fight the world champion, so that’s all it is with me.”
Those platitudes sound nice, but every time Foster and Ford get near each other, the simmering quickly turns to a boil.
When they ran into each other sitting ringside for the Emanuel Navarrete-Eduardo Núñez junior lightweight title fight in February, they got into a heated argument that spread across social media. In the build-up to the fight this week, the two met at Sabine Street Bridge over Buffalo Bayou for a photo shoot when Foster didn’t like Ford bumping up against him while talking trash, so Foster gave him a shove in the chest that led to chaos between the camps. At the next day’s fight week press conference, they went nose-to-nose again, and this time it was Ford who did the shoving.
That led to a war of words on social media with Ford proposing the two meet up to fight right away instead of waiting to fight in front of the crowd on the UH campus and streaming on DAZN. Foster responded by saying Ford was trying to mess up their big fight, telling Ford, “1 more day and ima give you everything you looking for, goofy!!!”
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That’s a lot of animosity for two world-class fighters who share the same city. Foster (24-3, 12 KOs), who is the slight betting favorite, grew up in Orange, but turned himself into a world champion after making the move 110 miles west to Houston. Ford (18-1-1, 8 KOs) is from Camden, N.J., but started training at Prince Boxing Gym — owned by James Prince, founder of Houston’s legendary rap label Rap-A-Lot Records — in 2022 and made the full-time move to the city in 2024 when he won his first world title.
Despite their home gyms being separated merely by a 10-minute drive, the two say they never run into each other outside of boxing.
The 27-year-old Ford finds himself in good company in Prince’s stable of fighters that includes fellow New Jersey native Shakur Stevenson, who is a Top 5 pound-for-pound fighter by anyone’s rankings and also has moved full-time to Houston.
Those two also are tight with other top fighters around the same weight class, including undefeated junior welterweight (140 pounds) fighter Richardson Hitchens and former lightweight (135 pounds) champion Keyshawn Davis.
And that’s where the 32-year-old Foster, who has been calling for a shot at Stevenson for years, says the feud had to have originated.
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“The animosity has to come from his pops, his bestie Shakur,” Foster said. “I guess they got mad that I didn’t want to be a part of their group of friends. They wanted to find somebody that would get in my way and I think they’ve sent Ray Ford.”
Raymond Ford (left) sits ringside with WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson (right) at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall on April 12, 2025 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
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To prepare for his first title shot at 130 pounds, Ford, who is 3-0 since moving up from 126 pounds in 2024, has been sparring with Stevenson but says the reigning 140-pound champion doesn’t need to give him any tips to prepare him for Saturday night.
“He doesn’t really tell me anything, just to be myself and stay sharp,” Ford said. “He’s sparring me, so that’s more than enough right there, just getting in there and getting that look.”
Stevenson is expected to be ringside at Fertitta Center and Foster plans to give him a good look as well.
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“That’s what’s going to make it look even better when I beat this guy, that y’all had all this help, y’all tried to do all these things and it just didn’t work,” Foster said.
If he wins, Ford plans to rack up all the other belts at 130 pounds. Foster also has long wanted to unify the belts in the weight class, but is ready to move up to whatever weight is necessary to get a shot at Stevenson, saying “I just need to get him across the ring from me.”
Saturday night is a battle of Houston fighters at Fertitta Center, but Foster already can imagine an even bigger local showdown later in the year.
“I’m not looking past May 30, but why not do me and Shakur at Toyota Center?” he says. “Let me take care of this business in front of me, and then let’s do it really big right here in the city.”
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