NickBall

"the Wrecking"

WBA World Featherweight Champion

NICK BALL is now the WBA featherweight champion of the world, following his defeat for former champion Ray Ford in Riyadh in June.

Ball has been taking the featherweight division by storm and the world is starting to notice the fearless stocky puncher with a toothpaste smile.

The wrecking ball from Liverpool believed it is high time the whole boxing public get to know what he is all about because, in his own opinion, he is in a league of his own when it comes to the nine-stoners.

He was true to his words at Wembley Stadium in April 2022 when he took top billing in a thrilling clash with the far more experienced Isaac Lowe and won the WBC Silver title.

It was a breakout performance delivered in a brutal fashion, with Lowe rocked from the second round onwards before the fight was stopped in the sixth.

The watching world now knows who Nick Ball is and he intends to keep it that way.

The 27-year-old - trained by Paul Stevenson in the Everton Red Triangle gym - hadn't previously been propelled fully into the spotlight, but he insisted the time was right on the biggest stage of all to showcase his combination of skills and destructive brutality.

In July 2022, Ball made a first defence of his WBC belt against the tall and dangerous Namibian Nathanael Kakololo. At a huge height disadvantage, Ball set about his opponent from start to finish and finally got a deserved stoppage in the final round.

Then Ball reinforced his brutal message with a quickfire stoppage of the supposedly dangerous Mexican Jesus Ramirez Rubio in London, taking less than two minutes to demolish an opponent with 21 wins to his name.

Ball took on the unbeaten South African Ludumo Lamati in a third defence of his title in Belfast back in May 2023. A tough battle ensued before Lamati was ultimately stopped in the 12th round and unfortunately ended up in hospital after collapsing in the ring.

In November 2023, Ball positioned himself for world honours by overwhelming former world champion Isaac Dogboe in a final eliminator for a shot at the WBC world title.

His big chance came in March when, after a slow start, Ball got the measure of his much taller opponent, champion Rey Vargas, and floored his man twice in the second half of the fight, only for the scorecards to declare a controversial draw.

Less than three months later, Ball was awarded another world title chance against Ford as part of Queensberry’s 5 vs 5 tournament against Matchroom and this time Ball got the verdict he wanted and deserved.

He made a successful first defence of his world title against former world title challenger Ronny Rios in Liverpool in October, stopping Rios in the 10th round.

He now wants to unify world title belts.