Junior lightweight contender Thomas Mattice saluted Raymond Ford for accepting his challenge ahead of their fight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take a lot of calls, and a lot of people never take the challenge,\u201d Cleveland’s Mattice, 22-4-1 (17 KOs), said at today\u2019s final press conference. \u201cThe pressure\u2019s on him. I\u2019ve got everything to gain, he\u2019s got everything to lose. I came here to get the job done. I never fought for no check my whole career, and every time they call, it\u2019s \u2018yes\u2019 to whoever they say. Before that, they called me for Shakur [Stevenson] and I said yes. I\u2019m ready to go out there and put on a show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of his opponent, former WBA titleholder Ford, Mattice said: \u201cRay\u2019s nice. I can\u2019t take anything away from him. No bad blood or anything like that. Ray\u2019s a great fighter, I\u2019m a great fighter. The fans are going to win with this one. \u2026 I appreciate the opportunity, and we\u2019re here to capitalize on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford, 16-1-1 (8 KOs), from Camden, New Jersey, denied that the expectation weighed heavily on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAin\u2019t no pressure. I do this \u2013 it\u2019s what I do,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately for him, he\u2019s outgunned and I\u2019m gonna show that. It is what it is. He signed a contract. He signed up for it. \u2026 It\u2019s the boxing business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford also felt he might steal the show on Saturday.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always gonna try and make a statement,\u201d said Ford, who was in a Fight of the Year with Otabek Kholmatov last year. \u201c[I\u2019ve been] trying to get these world champions to fight me. Hopefully, after this fight, we can get one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere on the bill, New York-based Uzbek Shakram Giaysov, 16-0 (9 KOs), will meet Franco Ocampo in a welterweight eliminator. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always ready. I\u2019m happy for my fight,\u201d said Giyasov. \u201cOne step, I\u2019m going to my goal of being a world champion. Step by step, I\u2019m coming for my goal. I\u2019m here to be world champion. It doesn\u2019t matter who is my open, I\u2019m going to my goal.<\/p>\n
California-based Argentine Franco Ocampo, 17-2 (8 KOs), said: \u201cWe\u2019re coming out to win, and more than anything, we\u2019re here to show that Argentinean\u2019s have balls.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also another outing for Florida star Omari Jones, who will make his second pro fight since turning over after an amateur career that culminated at the Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n
Jones, aiming to go 2-0 with a win over Cincinnati\u2019s 13-5-2 (5 KOS) William Jackson, said: \u201cI\u2019m ready, especially coming off my debut in Orlando. I was built for moments like this and I\u2019m ready to put on another performance in Atlantic City. Every time out, that\u2019s what me and my team \u2013 we establish with you guys \u2013 and we want to stay busy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackson offered little and said his talking would be done with the gloves on.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s in for a handful,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cI don\u2019t have much to say. I\u2019m just ready to show my talent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Junior lightweight contender Thomas Mattice saluted Raymond Ford for accepting his challenge ahead of their fight at Boardwalk…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,7605,7606,7602,7604,79,7603,16,15,7607],"class_list":{"0":"post-11108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-franco-ocampo","10":"tag-omari-jones","11":"tag-raymond-ford","12":"tag-shakram-giaysov","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-thomas-mattice","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-william-jackson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114320136156087231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}