Abraham Nova Steps In To Face Raymond Ford On August 16th In Riyadh

Abraham ‘Super’ Nova will face super featherweight contender Raymond Ford as a substitute opponent on August 16th in Riyadh. The two will be fighting on the Moses Itauma vs. Dillian Whyte undercard. The event will be shown on DAZN.

Abraham Nova: Replacement Opponent

The always tough veteran Nova (24-3-1, 17 KOs) replaces Anthony Cacace as the opponent for Ford after the Irish fighter suffered an injury and had to pull out.

Mike Coppinger broke the news on Abraham Nova stepping in as the replacement opponent for Raymond Ford to fight.

Nova, 31, has lost two out of his last four fights to O’Shaquie Foster and Andres Cortes. However, both defeats were controversial, as Nova outworked them and landed the better shots. Those losses showed how tough it is for B-side fighters to get the nod when fighting hyped guys. If Nova can recapture the form he showed against Foster and Cortes, he’s got a chance of beating Ford. 

Taking the Ford (17-1-1, 8 KOs) fight on one month’s notice is a tough ask for Nova. It’s supposed to be a 12-rounder. It’s unclear if it’ll be reduced to 10 now that Cacace is no longer fighting.

Ford, 26, has won his last two fights since losing to Nick Ball by a 12-round split decision last year. There was nothing controversial about that fight. Ball out-punched Ford and dominated him with his power and constant forward pressure. That was the first time in Ford’s career when he met a better puncher than himself.

In Ford’s fight before that, he was seconds away from losing to Otabek Kholmatov when the referee suddenly halted the fight, giving him a questionable 12th-round knockout. It was a weird stoppage that saved Ford from a certain loss. He took a lot of punishment from the harder-punching Kholmatov in the fight, and was lucky to get the win.

What may have given Ford issues was jumping back in the ring just three months later to take on Nick Ball in June 2024. That was an old-school type of quick ring return. Normally, fighters don’t fight so soon after being in a war like the one Raymond was in against Kholmatov.