Raymond Ford Dominates In Saudi Showcase

Raymond Ford, the former super featherweight champion who was the only American fighter pencilled in on the Moses Itauma-Dillian Whyte card, entered the ring dressed in a Tom and Jerry outfit to face Abraham Nova.

The southpaw from Camden, New Jersey wore the unique outfit in nod to recent comments from HE Turki Al Sheikh, the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, who said that he was tired of “Tom And Jerry” type fights in which one fighter ran from the other.

Abraham Nova is a colorful fighter with a colorful past. He was born in Puerto Rico to parents from the Dominican Republic. As a boxer he has fought much of his career out of Albany in upstate New York. Abraham was a late replacement for Ireland’s Anthony Cacace.

Scores were widely in favor of Ford (96-94, 97-93, 97-93) who easily cruised past Nova in this junior-lightweight contest. He seemed slightly more keen to press the action in his new weight class than in some of his previous fights.

In his post fight interviews, Ford (18-1-1) made it clear he was ready for “Any of the champions,” at his new division. One name he didn’t want to talk about was Nick Ball, “He is still fighting at 126, so I am not answering any question about Nick Ball until he moves up.”

That move may come sooner than expected. Sam Goodman gave Nick Ball a tremendous fight in their encounter. Ball was defending his World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight title for the third time. A title he won from Ford in Riyadh in 2024 via split decision.

Nick Ball is often billed as the only British boxing champion at the moment. Though Jazza Dickens, the current WBA (Interim) super-featherweight, likely would have won a full belt last month in Istanbul if boxing politics and timelines had worked out just slightly different in his favor.

Sometimes the real “Tom and Jerry” in boxing takes place outside the ring.

Hopefully for Raymond Ford the politics of boxing will allow him a world title shot. Hopefully he can get in the ring with IBF champion Eduardo Nunez or WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster. If not there is always Jazza Dickens.

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