Promotional companies Matchroom Boxing and Top Rank jointly announced Thursday that Foster will defend his WBC super featherweight title against Raymond Ford on May 30 in Houston. The announcement confirmed prior reporting by The Ring and other outlets.

DAZN will stream the Foster-Ford fight globally as the 12-round main event of a card from Fertitta Center, an 8,500-seat venue on the campus of the University of Houston.

Foster, The Ring’s second-ranked contender for a vacant junior lightweight title, has long resided and trained in Houston. The Orange, Texas native will headline a show in his adopted hometown for the first time.

“I’m happy and excited to fight at home for the first time as a world champion – it’s a dream come true,” Foster said. “We will be 1,000-percent prepared, and we will dominate from round one.”

Ford (18-1-1, 9 KOs), a former WBA 126-pound champ from Camden, New Jersey, is ranked sixth by The Ring in the 130-pound division and second by the WBC. He has long called for a fight with Foster (24-3, 12 KOs), who dominated another ex-featherweight champ, Stephen Fulton, en route a wide win on the scorecards in his last appearance December 6 at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.

“I’m just happy he finally signed the contract,” Ford said. “When it came down to it, I was the biggest fight out there for him and now it’s time to fight and I can’t wait for it. He’s a good name for my resume and I’m taking that belt on May 30 and becoming a two-weight world champion.”

Foster wants a unification fight against IBF/WBO champ Emanuel Navarrete (40-2-1, 33 KOs, 1 NC). He assured Ford when they went face to face before Navarrete’s 11th-round, technical-knockout victory over Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez (29-2, 27 KOs) on February 28 in Glendale, Arizona, that they would fight next if Foster couldn’t secure a bout versus Navarrete.

Foster and Navarrete are promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., whereas Ford is represented by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom. Top Rank, which officially announced its new partnership with DAZN on March 18, and Matchroom, which has worked with DAZN since it entered the boxing business almost eight years ago, have matched their fighters on a regular basis in recent months, including Navarette and Nunez.

“What a fight this is,” Hearn, Matchroom’s chairman, said. “O’Shaquie is a fantastic boxer, always in exciting fights, and a worthy world ruler. But we’ve been here before – Ray stopped a Top Rank man [Otabek Kholmatov] to become [a featherweight champion in March 2024] … and on May 30, we believe lightning strikes twice and ‘Savage’ gets the strap in what promises to be a magic night in Texas.”

Ford, 27, is 3-0 in junior lightweight fights since England’s Nick Ball (23-1-1, 13 KOs) beat him by split decision and took the WBA 126-pound championship from him in June 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He most recently defeated Abraham Nova (24-4-1, 17 KOs) by unanimous decision August 16 in Riyadh.

Foster, 32, is 14-1 since Ronald Chinea edged him by split decision in July 2016.

His lone loss during that stretch was a controversial split-decision defeat to Robson Conceicao in July 2024. Foster avenged that setback when he beat Brazil’s Conceicao (20-3-1, 10 KOs, 1 NC) by split decision in their immediate rematch in November 2024 and regained his WBC belt.

“O’Shaquie Foster solidified his place among the division’s elite by dismantling Stephen Fulton in December,” Top Rank president Todd duBoef said. “Now he will defend his crown on his home turf against another former world champion in Raymond Ford. Recently, there’s been a lot of animosity brewing between the two, and we expect Foster to silence the chatter with a dominant performance from him on May 30.”