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Fighting away from home can pose challenges for any boxer. Some view it as risky, but Ford has always welcomed that challenge.

In his three years as a pro boxer, he’s fought in Thailand, Singapore and Russia. Now he’s adding Germany to his resume.

Yildirim has fought almost his entire pro career in Germany. His only loss came against Chris Eubank Jr. in October, and the 26-year-old has shown knockout power throughout his career registering 11 KOs.

Yildirim is an aggressive boxer who isn’t afraid to turn his fights into a brawl. Ford believes that style of boxing will favour him.

“He’s a come-forward type of fighter and that’s going to work right into my advantages,” said Ford. “We’ve watched a lot of film on him, and he’s not afraid to take a lot of punches and his chin will be tested.”

During the pre-fight media conference on Wednesday, Yildirim and his coach both said they believe that they’re going to knock out Ford in the seventh or eighth round.

Ford’s never been knocked out in his 11-year career as a boxer and MMA fighter.

“He’s only knocked out guys who came here to get knocked out. I’m not one of those guys,” said Ford.

“He’s been knocked out by a middleweight, but he’s going to knock me out? (Fedor) Chudinov couldn’t put me away and he’s a harder puncher than Avni and a former world champion.”

Ford didn’t waste any time between his last fight and taking on his new challenge. After a brief trip home to Edmonton, Ford flew to Montreal to train with his coaches at Grant Brothers Boxing.

“I had 12-13 days at home with the family and didn’t even get to settle in and I was back on a plane to training camp,” said Ford.

“But I’m in the best shape and the sharpest I’ve ever been. It’s like I had a 10-week training camp. I’m exited for this fight because it’s going to be a fight, not feel like a race like my last one.

“I’m going to do everything I can to finish the fight and not leave it to the judges, because you never know what’s going to happen when you leave it in their hands.”

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