Nick Ball preparing for a big fight date in November
Liverpool’s Nick Ball (16-0, 9KOs) is preparing for a fight date in November, he told BBN exclusively, working hard in the gym to become the first British featherweight champion from Liverpool since 2011.
The rising star is mandated to fight for the vacant British featherweight title against Commonwealth champion Nathaniel Collins, but after the Scot withdrew from the original fight date in July with a hand injury, Ball isn’t sure if he will definitely be next or not, “We don’t know, I haven’t heard nothing,” he answered. “I’m just in the gym training regardless because they said I could be fighting in November.”
The British featherweight title hasn't been held by a Liverpudlian since Stephen Smith lost to Lee Selby in Liverpool in 2011. Ball is adamant he can return the belt to his city after an 11-year absence, “It’ll mean a lot to win the British title, it’s a belt every fighter wants to fight for and wants to win. It’s something you dream of as a kid, so I’d love to win it, but I didn’t get into this boxing to become a British champion, so that’s not my end goal, but it’d still be nice winning it.”
Ball and Collins were meant to clash in July, but the WBC Silver champion defended his green and gold belt to Namibia’s Nathanael Kakololo instead, who Ball stopped in the 12th round with just 93 seconds remaining.
The African Boxing Union featherweight champion had lost three times before but never been stopped. He was teak-tough and took a lot of big shots, wobbling under the power many times, but was remarkably still standing in the final round. Ball was slightly surprised with just how tough his 16th professional was, “He was awkward, tall and rangy, and tough; he had some chin on him, to be fair! The more punishment I hit him with, the better. I was having fun in there!
“It was good to finally do them [rounds] and shut a lot of people up saying that I can’t do 12 rounds; I can do 12 rounds in my sleep! I didn’t even sit down between rounds to make a point. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but I can do 15 if you want.”
Ball displayed an excellent jab against a far taller foe, but still feels like he hasn’t shown the world what he can do yet, he said, “No, that was still just a little bit of what I'm capable of. I showed that I can do the 12 rounds and I can box, and I can beat 5ft 10in people to the jab when I’m only 5ft 3in, but I’ve still got more to show. The better the opponent, the better I’ll be.”
After 34 minutes of pure punishment, Kakololo turned his back midway through the final round, prompting referee John Latham to jump in and save the visitor from further damage. That makes two opponents in a row that have turned their back from Ball’s power, which includes Isaac Lowe in the sixth round against Ball at Wembley Stadium in April.
The 25-year-old believes those two results have a sent a statement to the rest of the 126lbs division, “It’s sort of like quitting, isn’t it? And that’s my style, I’m gonna force them to quit, or they’re gonna get stopped by the ref or knocked out.”
WBA World champion Leigh Wood, the last holder of the British title Ball is preparing to challenge for, sits at the top of the featherweight rankings in the UK currently, with IBF titlist Josh Warrington just behind, followed by Jazza Dickens who is attempting to join them both as a world champion, as his next fight is for the IBO title in October.
Ball shared his thoughts on his rivals in the talent-packed division, “I don’t really think nothing of them, they’re just in my way. You’re stopping me from what I want to do, so I’m gonna have to go through ya! I don’t sit there and think about them, I let them think about and worry about me.”
On the world stage, the featherweight division is topped by two-weight champ Rey Vargas, who has the WBC World featherweight belt, a governing body that Ball is ranked 14th with, one place behind potential future opponent Jordan Gill from Cambridgeshire.
“It’s an action-packed division, all boss fighters in there, so it’s exciting. To fight over in America would be sick, my family are out there, in Florida and New York.”
Ball trains at the Everton Red Triangle gym with fellow WBC titleholder Andrew Cain, undefeated Bradley Strand, and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Peter McGrail under the watchful eye of head coach Paul Stevenson.
“The gym’s flying now,” Ball enthused. “And it’s going to continue to keep getting that [exposure] if we just continue to keep doing what we’re doing, listening to Paul [Stevenson] and Ant [Humphreys], doing the right things and let the fights do our talking and everything else will follow.”
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