Ford Fortunate to Walk Away with the Win Over the Tough and Determined Vazquez
In a fight fueled by bad blood, Raymond “Savage” Ford, (11-0-1, 6 KOs) took on Edward “Kid” Vazquez (11-1, 3 KOs) in a ten-round featherweight contest at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Vazquez was eager to show and prove that Ford is not on his level, even though many viewed this fight as a step up in class. The 26-year-old believes his opponent has feasted on soft competition and was hell-bent on exposing him.
Ford went into this battle with the higher accolades and ranked ninth by the WBA at 126 pounds. He earned that ranking with a third-round TKO over Reece Bellotti in August of 2021 in Brentwood, England, winning the WBA Continental featherweight title. He followed that up with an impressive stoppage win over Felix Caraballo in November 2021.
Now he faces Vazquez who has done plenty of trash-talking on social media. This was a battle flowing with plenty of animosity.
HE ASKED FOR THIS
From the opening bell, Vazquez was on the attack. He swarmed his southpaw opponent, making sure to work whenever in close. The goal was to make Ford as uncomfortable as possible. Ford kept up the high guard and worked behind the jab at distance. However, he’s not a strong inside fighter and it was evident during the early rounds.
SWITCHING TACTICS
The middle rounds saw Ford relax and start cooking with the jab. He also did a nice job of turning Vazquez, then landing with combinations while keeping the action more at center-ring. Ford was also fighting better in close quarters, sitting down on his punches. As the pace slowed, he became more effective. But Vazquez was on a mission as he kept charging forward and went all-out during the final rounds. The fight lived up to the pre-fight bad blood.
It became a question of what you favored, the aggressiveness of Vazquez, or the cleaner punches of Ford. In the end, the judges scored the fight for Ford by split decision (96-94 Vazquez, 98-92 and 97-93 Ford). This was a very close fight that could’ve gone either way, but this reporter feels that Ford did not win by four and six points, respectfully. He was lucky to walk away with his hand raised in victory and has a lot of things to work on moving forward.
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By: Michael Wilson Jr.
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