Unbeaten Nick Ball provides update on his career, recent injury woes, and who’s on his hit list!
Newly-crowned WBA World featherweight champion Nick Ball (30-1, 11KO) revealed in an interview with Seconds Out that he was forced to have surgery after defeating Raymond Ford, last June in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to Danny Flexen from Seconds Out, Ball began by explaining his absence from social media and interviews lately, “I’m still waiting for the belt to be delivered, so not too happy about that! It’s been about six weeks now since the fight and the belt’s still not here, so dunno what’s going on with that.
“And I had a little operation on Friday [July 12th], yeah had to get fixed up and just been recovering. It was a previous [injury], like in the training up to it [the fight].
“I don’t know how long I’ve had it. It was three areas, off [caused by] running and a lot of strain and things like that. In the fight and after the fight, it was a problem so I had to go and see a specialist and get it sorted and he’s doing a good job on it.”
On his recovery process, he enlightened about what he has to do to get back to training, “Just take it easy, not rushing, like for the first two or three weeks then start in light exercise, then they said return back to your chosen sport after about four or five weeks, so should be all good now.”
Then the 27-year-old expanded on the likely cause of the damage, “He [the specialist] said it was off running and a lot of strain as well, as I’m training hard all year round and I had basically two back to back camps within a week I was straight back in after Rey Vargas and then straight into Ray Ford one so it was non-stop, breaking the body down with the training and the fights; it’s fixed now so I’m all good.”
He then assured that the injury didn’t impact him during the fight with Ford, “Not really, no. He hit my with a good body shot in round one, right in the belly button, so maybe, but not too sure.”
Ball vs Vargas and Ford
Ball defeated Ford via split decision on the groundbreaking 5 vs 5 event between Queensberry and Matchroom.
“Good event to be a part of really, it was 10-0 weren’t it!” Ball praised Queensberry, his long-term promotional outfit. “Just grateful to be a part of it.”
Both Ball’s world title shots ended on a split, firstly against Rey Vargas for the Mexican’s WBC bauble, then against unbeaten American prospect Raymond Ford for the vacant WBA belt.
The Merseysider compared the two bouts that took place back-to-back in the first half of 2024, firstly explaining that fighting Ford wasn’t as hard as Vargas, “Not really, no, cos he was there to be hit, he didn’t run away. Vargas, it was more frustrating.
“The first couple of rounds with Vargas was tricky, finding the range… I didn’t want to just rush in as well, because obviously he’s a world champion, anything can happen, so I just tried to gauge it and then obviously the second half of the fight I ran him out the ring really. He was running away so that’s frustrating in itself because you can’t pin them down, so Ray Ford was more easier to hit.”
Ball had to wait for a second world title shot before he came a world champion, having held WBC featherweight world champion Rey Vargas to a draw earlier this year in March.
Many spectators in Saudi had the Liverpudlian winning, especially after flooring the Mexican on numerous occasions throughout the 12 championship rounds. Promoter Frank Warren was very vocal after the split decision was called, letting everyone in the venue know it was one of the worst decisions he had ever seen.
But less than two months later, the firebrand jumped straight back into a world championship contest, this time having his hand rightfully raised, but still had to endure the suspense that comes with the split decision verdict.
“You can’t put it into words, it’s a special feeling,” Ball recalled. “Something you work your whole life for and then when it finally happens it doesn’t feel real. It’s a special moment for everyone around me as well.”
On his future targets, he immediately confirmed he wants the rematch with Vargas to settle unfinished business, “Yeah, definitely. If I’m picking one, that’d be the one. And that green and gold belt as well [the WBC title], that should be mine. I would love to fight again and right the wrong.”
‘Monster’
‘The Wrecking Ball’ then showed his enthusiasm to fight a ‘Monster’ if the opportunity presented itself, “If he’s [Naoya Inoue] moving up like he says he is, then yeah, that’d be an exciting fight that everyone would want to watch because it’s all-action fighters so it will be action packed.”
Ball believes he could find weaknesses to exploit if he ever fought Inoue, “There’s flaws in there, the last fight he got dropped, so there’s that, so he can get hurt so he’s not the monster like everyone is saying he is.”
Domestically, Josh Warrington is a potential future opponent and big name for Ball to face at home, “Anything can happen, any fights can be made. He’s got a tough fight on his hands coming up soon, so see how that one goes. I’m looking forward to that one, that should be a good fight, I like both the lads as well.”
Former world champion Josh Warrington faces unified IBF and IBO World super-featherweight titleholder Anthony Cacace on September 21 at Wembley. If the ‘Leeds Warrior’ wins, he will become a two-weight world champion and a three-time IBF world champion.
“Gotta make sure I’m ready for all of them,” Ball added. “Make some defences of my title, solid defences, then get all four belts, and obviously unify first, then become undisputed, then move up as well.”
The Triangle
Trained by Paul Stevenson at the Everton Red Triangle, Nick is the century-old boxing club’s first ever world champion. “It’s where I started and where I’ll finish as well.”
Ball believes all his teammates will follow suit and become a world champion like him, “All of them. You got Andrew Cain fighting Saturday for the British and Commonwealth, so he’s not far off. You’ve got the McGrails – Peter and Joe; Boma Brown; Brad Strand; we got Lucas Biswani, he’s waiting to make his debut so he’s definitely one to watch out for.”
