WORLD Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion Eusebio Pedroza may have come from a place where Valentine’s Day is not celebrated. That may explain his actions on February 14, 1981. On that Valentine’s Day, the Panamanian showed no love for his Guyanese opponent Patrick Ford.
Pedroza, known as `The Scorpion’, roughed up Ford for the entire fight that was staged in Panama City, Panama, and ended the contest with a knockout in round 13.
It was the second loss in succession for the Guyanese who was attempting to win his country’s first world title.
Five months earlier, Ford stumbled at the finish line and was defeated by WBC featherweight champion Salvador Sanchez of Mexico. The loss to Sanchez signalled a dark period for the previously undefeated Ford as three other defeats followed.
He returned to winning ways in April of 1985 with a fourth-round TKO of Alejandro Garcia of the Dominican Republic. Ford died in the USA on November 13, 2011. He was 55 years old.