Raymond Ford figures a dominant performance against Abraham Nova on Saturday night would actually hurt his championship cause.

Nova is a credible contender who was very competitive in his 12-round, split-decision defeat to WBC 130-pound champion O’Shaquie Foster in February 2024. A decisive victory over Nova in their 12-rounder therefore should propel Ford closer to a shot at Foster, IBF champ Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez, WBO champ Emanuel Navarrete or even WBA champ Lamont Roach if his rematch with Gervonta Davis doesn’t materialize.

Based on what Ford (17-1-1, 8 KOs) has experienced since he moved up from the featherweight limit of 126 pounds to 130, however, he can’t help but believe that none of the beltholders will consider fighting him unless he has difficulty with Nova.

“In order for the world champions to wanna fight me, I gotta look bad,” Ford, a former WBA featherweight champ, told The Ring. “If I go in there, beat him up and knock him out, you think that world champion gonna wanna fight me?”

The obvious answer to that question has left Ford frustrated during his quest to become a champion in a second division. The southpaw from Camden, New Jersey, hardly lost a round in back-to-back, 10-round unanimous points wins against Puerto Rico’s Orlando Gonzalez (23-3, 13 KOs) and Cleveland’s Thomas Mattice (22-5-1, 17 KOs) since Nick Ball barely beat him by split decision and took his WBA belt 14 months ago in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

England’s Ball (22-0-1, 13 KOs) will defend the WBA featherweight title against Australia’s Sam Goodman (20-0, 8 KOs) as part of the same undercard on which Ford will encounter Nova at ANB Arena in Riyadh. DraftKings lists Ford as an 8-1 favorite over Nova, who is 1-2-1 in his past four fights.

DAZN Pay-Per-View will stream the card headlined by the Moses Itauma-Dillian Whyte heavyweight bout in the UK (£15.99; 5:45 p.m. BST) and the United States ($49.99; 12:45 p.m. ET).

Ford, 26, hoped an impressive win against Anthony Cacace on Saturday night would’ve elevated his standing within their division. Nova (24-3-1, 17 KOs), of Albany, New York, replaced Belfast’s Cacace (24-1, 9 KOs) last month after the Irishman injured his back while training.

Cacace — a former IBF junior lightweight champ who has defeated ex-titleholders Joe Cordina, Josh Warrington and Leigh Wood in his past three fights — was at least willing to face Ford.

“I been saying different names,” Ford explained. “We know who these names [are]. Do these guys look they in a rush to fight me? The fans wanna see these fights, too, but it’s up to these guys to send contracts and accept fights when it’s brought upon they table.”

Ford is ranked third by the WBC, fourth by the IBF and WBA, fifth by the WBO and ninth by The Ring. None of those rankings will be good enough, according to Ford, to secure the opportunities he craves to prove he is the best junior lightweight.

“I gotta become mandatory, go through all these different things,” Ford said. “Even though I was already a world champion at a weight class before — like when you see other guys, they move up, if they was a world champion you see other guys that [are] world champions, they wanna put them on they resume and things like that. … Let’s look at Stephen Fulton. He was forced to move up from 122 [to 126]. I think he had one fight [at featherweight] and then fought for a world title right after that.

“And then, after he won that world title, now he moving up again to fight for another world title [against Foster]. So, it’s like when you see certain other people do things and it’s easier for them to get fights, but then it’s like with me, I feel like people look at me as a threat and they don’t wanna do that. They don’t wanna give me an opportunity to take they belt.”