Edward Vazquez feels like he’s spent the entire pandemic in search of a fight like the one that’s on deck.

The unbeaten Texan is chomping at the bit ahead of a scheduled ten-round clash with Camden’s Raymond Ford (10-0-1, 6KOs) in a battle of undefeated featherweight this Saturday on DAZN from Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The bout is viewed as a step up in class for Fort Worth’s Vazquez, though the same can be said of his higher profile opponent who enters as the A-side and the betting favorite.

“I’ve stepped up before and took out everyone that was supposed to beat me,” Vazquez told BoxingScene.com. “Raymond Ford stepped up once in his career and he couldn’t even win.

“I’m not like the soft touches he’s faced with only a little bit of notice. I’ve trained six hard weeks for this fight and I’m coming to win, unlike most of his opponents.”

Vazquez refers to Ford having to settle for an eight-round draw with unbeaten Aaron Perez last March at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Ford readily admits that he left a lot to be desired during training camp ahead of that fight. He has since rebounded with two wins including an eighth-round stoppage of Felix Caraballo last November 27 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City.

Vazquez remains perfect as a pro, though having to overcome adversity to retain that mark.

A hard-fought win over unbeaten Brandon Cruz saw Vazquez travel to his opponent’s home region to take a six-round decision in their January 2019 clash in Alpine, California. On the other side of the pandemic came his off-the-canvas six-round, unanimous decision over Adam Ochoa in September 2020—a fight that came after seeing two previous outings fall through due to his opponents testing positive for Covid.

Less than three months after the win over Ochoa, Vazquez made the rounds in a thrilling eight-round split decision victory over Irvin Gonzalez. The November 2020 featherweight clash took place on the freeview portion preceding the first-ever Triller Fight Club Pay-Per-View which was headlined by the celebrated exhibition between Hall of Fame legends Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.

Two wins have followed over modest opposition heading into Saturday’s bout—which Vazquez firmly views as the opportunity to advance to the next level.

“I’ve been fighting for almost 20 years now,” notes Vazquez. “I’ve never looked for easy fights. I have a plan to become world champion one day. This weekend, I’ll take Ford’s title (WBA Continental Americas featherweight belt at stake) and then work towards becoming a featherweight contender. This is my time, I’m right here and I’m ready.”

Ford-Vazquez serves as part of a DAZN telecast featuring two major title fights—WBA bantamweight titlist Jamie Mitchell (7-0-2, 4KOs) versus Liverpool’s Carly Skelly (4-0-1, 0KOs) and a main event between former junior bantamweight titlist Carlos Cuadras (39-4-1, 27KOs) and rising contender Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (14-0, 10KOs) for the vacant WBC junior bantamweight titlist.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox