Featherweight Nick Ball defends WBC Silver belt to unbeaten challenger Ludumo Lamati
Undefeated WBC Silver featherweight champion Nick Ball (17-0, 10KOs) fights in Belfast for the first time as a pro when he defends his green and gold belt to South African Ludumo Lamati (21-0-1, 11KO) on May 27.
Ball and Lamati will clash over 12 championship rounds at the SSE Arena in Northern Ireland on the undercard of Luis Alberto Lopez vs Michael Conlan IBF featherweight world title fight, live on BT Sport.
Both boxers are unbeaten and world ranked. Ball is currently WBC #4, WBO #8 and IBO #13 at featherweight, and Lamati is placed IBF #8, WBO #14 and IBO #21 at super-bantamweight.
Trained by Paul Stevenson and Anthony Humphreys, Liverpool’s Ball is closing in on a potential world title shot at the WBC reigning featherweight champion Rey Vargas.
The 25-year-old student of Everton Red Triangle gym, who counts Olympian Peter McGrail and unbeaten Bradley Strand as teammates, has been sparring with ex-European champ Jordan Gill in the lead up to his third title defence.
His 18th opponent, Johannesburg’s Lamati, had an amateur record of around 90 wins with 10 losses, and took part in the World Amateur Championships in 2011.
Nicknamed “9mm”, he is unbeaten in 22 bouts as a pro and is a two-time African titlist; he has been victorious in three IBF Inter-Continental championship contests and was an IBO World champion two years ago – all at super-bantamweight.
To win his IBO World title, he was involved in a thrilling, back and forth, fight of the year contender against Mexican bantamweight champion Jose Martin Estrada Garcia. Now 34, Estrada Garcia has only won 12 from 15 bouts and has lost his last three in a row. One judge had them even at 114-114, but the other two had Lamati the narrow winner. The pair traded evenly at mid to short range for 12-rounds non-stop. Each man threw everything they had at the other, both landing cleanly and copiously, but neither had enough clout to close the show.
30-year-old Lamati has completed more than double the rounds than Ball in the pros, with a considerably vaster amateur pedigree too, so the South African will have the upper hand in experience when he visits England for a second time, previously popping over in 2019 to outpoint Brayan Mairena in Bracknell.
However, the lesser seasoned pro, Nick Ball, is the home fighter, having signed with promoter Frank Warren back in 2022. He has proven himself to be a devastating wrecking ball, intent on violence and destruction, currently enjoying a meteoric rise up the world rankings.
In October 2021, Ball was knocking out Polish journeyman Piotr Gudel within 36 seconds, then six months later he was fighting for a WBC Silver title against Isaac Lowe in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium!
Cometh the hour, cometh the man… the young novice stepped up to the higher level and colossal occasion under the arch at England’s national stadium that night to deck Tyson Fury’s friend Lowe twice, before ruthlessly stopping him in the sixth.
In his three championship fights so far, he has knocked out all his opponents by KO – in the first round, the middle round and the last round! He has power to last.
He ended last year nominated for Prospect of the Year Award 2022 by the World Boxing Council and now stands on the precipice of a world title shot. But he faces an experienced, undefeated, former world champion on his way, who could be a potential banana skin in his path.
Prediction
Lamati is a fantastic fighter and a good body puncher. He proved against Jose Martin Estrada Garcia that he has decent punch resistance, but the Mexican was only ever a national champion and not known for being powerful.
Lamati has had two fights at featherweight and won by stoppage both times, but he doesn’t have the strength to really trouble Ball, but he is a good body puncher so there’s always a chance he could land on a sweet spot.
The visiting fighter would do best to fight at distance with the smaller man, utilising his superior height and reach, but that’s easier said than done against the Brit. Plus, Lamati can be easily pulled into a brawl, so this could provide explosive action from the first bell.
The powerful, aggressive Ball will have no trouble getting into mid or close range to land his short, potent left and right hooks, and uppercuts. Lamati won’t back down and will likely fight fire with fire, which will be a mistake against Ball.
The visitor from south Africa should get to demonstrate his boxing skill, fast hands and eyecatching combinations for a short while, but I believe this will be an early stoppage for Ball, within the first six rounds.
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