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Raymond Ford was far more impressive against an unbeaten Texan than was the case in his previous outing.
The unbeaten Camden-bred featherweight delivered perhaps his most complete performance to date in shutting down San Antonio’s Richard Medina over ten rounds. Scores were 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91 in favor of Ford, who came up big on the road Saturday evening at Tech Port Arena in San Antonio, Texas.
Ford came in with plenty to prove, as he was considered fortunate to escape with a split decision win over Edward Vazquez in his previous outing this past February 5 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Clear adjustments were made in training camp, a significant portion of it spent working with and learning from unbeaten lineal junior lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson (18-0, 9KOs). The 2106 Olympic Silver medalist and two-division title claimant advised the Camden southpaw to not take off any portion of any round, even in moments when he’s not on the attack.
Ford clearly absorbed the lessons, shooting a purposeful jab and living up to his pre-fight promise of negating any of Medina’s strengths. The 23-year-old prospect dictated the pace in the early rounds and wisely tied up anytime Media threatened to work his way inside.
Medlna closed the gap in round five after falling into an early hole. The San Antonio native did not enjoy much success even after cutting off the ring, struggling to fight his way out of clinches and quickly finding himself at the end of Ford’s jab. A pair of straight left hands by Ford put Medina on his heels inside the final fifteen seconds.
The same pattern held true throughout the second half of the fight. Medina brought the action to center ring in round seven but the absence of a jab left him prey to Ford’s steady attack. Ford continued to shoot the stick, also working Medina’s body with ripping right hooks and left hands.
Ford took the attack upstairs in round eight, launching right hooks and rapid-fire lefts in the direction of Medina’s chin. The difference in speed was apparent, with Ford already launching counter right hooks while Medina was winding up with his right hand. A classic one-two by Ford landed through the guard of Medina near the end of the round.
Heading into the tenth and final round, Ford was warned by his corner that Medina would come out looking for a single knockout shot. Ford never allowed that moment to take place, pumping his jab and shoving his straight left in Medina’s grill while maintaining desired distance throughout the round.
It didn’t play well with the partisan crowd, though it mattered little to Ford (12-0-1, 6KOs) who provided plenty of entertainment as shown in the final Compubox statistics. Ford was credited with landing 181-of-554 total punches (32.7%), compared to just 79-of-338 (23.4%) for Medina (13-1, 7KOs) who suffered his first defeat.
The bout opened a four-fight telecast live on DAZN. Headlining the show, locally based unbeaten WBC junior bantamweight titlist Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (15-0, 10KOs) attempts his first defense against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43KOs), a former two-time WBC champ from Si Sa Ket, Thailand.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox