There seemed to be little doubt. As the referee raised her arm in the middle of the ring, her coach stood in the corner smiling, raising his.
Olivia Ford left that little to chance at the USA Boxing National Junior Olympics and Summer Festival last week, and she came home a champion once again.
The 17-year-old Western Wayne senior and Lake Ariel resident survived a tough battle in the semis, then sailed through a nearly perfect final match, sealing the title in the 165-pound Youth Female Division at the championships in Wichita, Kansas.
Ford entered the tournament as the top-ranked fighter in the nation in the division and wound up defeating fighters ranked second and fourth on the way to the crown. It marked her fourth win at a national tournament and the first at 165 pounds, where she's now fighting three-minute rounds.
"Obviously, all of the national tournaments are important, and I feel like I earned every single one of them," Ford said. "But this one, I feel like between having more than one fight and the three-minute rounds, I definitely really felt like I earned this one. It was 100 degrees every day, too, and we went outside to make weight and do drills and everything. So, it was tough."
Her victory over the No. 4-ranked fighter nationally in her weight class, Talliyah Corbin of New Mexico, was scored a clean sweep in Ford's favor on all five officials' scorecards and came against the fighter who swept all five scorecards in the semifinals against the No. 2-ranked Mackenzie Hatfield, who scored a controversial win over Ford at the Silver Gloves championships in February.
Veteran fighter Shawn McFadden, Ford's trainer and coach, admitted the pair figured a rematch against Hatfield might be in the cards before they left for Wichita, but both were impressed by Corbin's combination of speed and skill. They compared her style to the one Reading's Olivia Tillman used to outpoint Ford in the 154-pound final at the Pennsylvania Golden Gloves regional tournament in 2022.
This time, though, Ford answered well, keeping her opponent at bay with a vicious and consistent jab.
"I can't stress that enough to her, use that jab, use her range, use her height and then set that right hand up," McFadden said. "Sometimes, fake a jab and throw a right hand. Because you've got them by then. If you've got your jab established, like she did especially in that championship fight, you can throw that right hand whenever you want. They can't avoid it."
Ford's semifinal win over Chadsity Scott held just as special a place.
The slugger from Houston came out strong, taking the first and second rounds on two of the five cards. But, Ford's trademark jab and straight combinations were enough to keep the powerful Scott on her heels through most of the fourth round, enabling Ford to claim victory on four of the five cards.
"She came back well, very well prepared," McFadden said. "She came out hard, looking to avenge that loss. We didn't fight since February, and there was a little bit of rust. But we knew how she fought, and we kind of weathered that storm."
Ford's focus now shifts to the second-annual National Women's Boxing Championships in Lafayette, Louisiana, in August. It marks the anniversary of the 2023 event, where she burst onto the national scene with a win over Scott to claim her first national crown. A spaghetti dinner fundraiser, Meatballs for Boxing, will be held July 14 from noon to 3 p.m. at the Regal Room in Olyphant to help raise funds for that trip. Tickets are $20 for dine-in or takeout, and can be purchased by contacting McFadden through Cerberus Boxing's Facebook or Instagram accounts.
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