Allan "Al" Ford (born August 13, 1950) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

. He is a former CBF Lightweight Champion.

Professional boxing career

Ford made his debut as a professional boxer on October 20, 1967 (shortly after his seventeenth birthday), a 3rd round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

win over Joe Hogue, who was also making his professional debut. Two months later Ford defeated Ron Lyke by first-round knockout. Ford fought an opponent with a winning record for the first time in his fifth fight, defeating 4-0 Mickey McMillan by

split decision A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split dec ...

after eight rounds. Ford would win his first 37 fights, picking up the vacant Canadian lightweight title with a win against 9-1 Julie Mandell and successful defending it several times. Ford's first truly notable win was a 10-round decision against 30-3-1 Raul Montoya on October 27, 1970. The first loss of Ford's professional boxing career came against 24-22-5 Percy Hayles in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

in a contest for the Commonwealth (British Empire) lightweight title. Hayles outboxed Ford in a 15 rounder to take the decision. Ford would continue to fight, winning his next four bouts before back-to-back loses to

Ken Buchanan Ken Buchanan Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 28 June 1945) is a Scottish retired professional boxer from Edinburgh and the former List of undisputed boxing champions, undisputed world lightweight champion.Reg Gutteridge, Gutteridge, Reg" ...

(points) and

Alfonso Frazer Alfonso Gerald Frazer (born January 4, 1948) is a former Panamanian boxer who held the Lineal and WBA Light welterweight titles. He competed in the men's featherweight event at the 1964 Summer Olympics. 1964 Olympic results Below is the rec ...

(knockout). Later Ford would lose a rematch with Percy Hayles by TKO and would finally lose his Canadian lightweight title to Johnny Summerhays in November 1975. Ford was still winning more often than he was losing, but he lost to most of his notable opponents, including to 15-4 Ralph Racine, to 15-0 Rick Folstad in 1978, and to 17-0 Aaron Pryor in 1979. Ford also fought Nick Furlano of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

for the Canadian

junior welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

title in 1979, losing by 14th-round knockout. Near the end losses became more frequent, but Ford's impressive record continued to get him paydays. He would lose again to Summerhays in 1980 and dropped a decision to 17-0 Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini in 1981. According to witnesses at the time, Ford was involved in long street fight outside an Edmonton nightclub after a dispute around this time. After losing six of his last seven fights, capped by a brutal decision loss to future prospect Michael Olajide on June 17, 1982, Ford finally retired with a final record of 55-19 with 19 wins coming by knockout.

Personal life

He is the father of retired

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

fighter and professional boxer Ryan Ford.

Championships and accomplishments

*Alberta Sports Hall of Fame **Hall of Fame (Class of 2012) * Canadian Boxing Federation **CBF Lightweight Championship (One time) *Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame **Hall of Fame (Class of 1990)

Professional boxing record

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Al 1950 births Living people Lightweight boxers Welterweight boxers Light-welterweight boxers Canadian male boxers Black Canadian boxers Sportspeople from Edmonton