Newcastle See PSG Loanee at Juve as Ideal Alexander Isak Replacement
March 16, 2025
Alcaraz upset by Draper in semis at Indian Wells
March 16, 2025
Nick Ball ground down TJ Doheny to secure victory after 10 rounds in a second defence of his WBA world featherweight title Saturday.
Ball (22-0-1, 13 KOs) increased the pressure as the fight progressed, and referee Michael Alexander decided Irish challenger Doheny (26-6, 20 KOs) couldn’t continue at the end of Round 10 at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England.
“I took my time and doing what I have been working on in the gym,” Ball, 28, said after the win in front of his home city fans.
“I can box and I showed that. I felt him getting tired with the pace I was setting.”
Ball was not seriously threatened, but his next fight could be a lot more competitive.
Ball’s promoter Frank Warren wants Ball to face 31-year-old undisputed world junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs), ESPN’s No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter, who first has a May 4 matchup against Ramon Cardenas in Las Vegas.
An unification title fight against one of the other world featherweight champions — Angelo Leo, Stephen Fulton and Rafael Espinoza — is also an option for Ball, as is a rematch with Rey Vargas, who earned a controversial draw against Ball a year ago.
“We’re trying to guide him to a fight versus Inoue, and I genuinely think he can win it,” Warren said. “It will have to be late this year, early next year.”
Ball, who won the WBA belt versus Raymond Ford in June last year and then defended it with a stoppage win over Ronny Rios in October, would probably have to travel to Inoue’s native Japan for the biggest fight of his life.
Former IBF world junior featherweight champion Doheny (2018 to 2019), who had not fought since he injured his back in a Round 7 stoppage loss to Inoue in September 2024, was an awkward and brave opponent for Ball.
A uneventful Round 1 ended full of spite when Australia-based Doheny, 38, got Ball in a headlock, and the champion responded by kneeing Doheny in the back of the leg. Doheny continued to taunt Ball in Round 2, trying to unsettle the 5-foot-2 champion.
Ball set a fast pace to test the legs of his opponent and he unloaded some big shots in Round 3, including a glancing left hook on the top of his head at the end of the round. But it was not a lopsided fight, and Doheny put together some combinations in Round 4 to keep Ball alert.
Doheny’s backfoot southpaw boxing earned him a share of the first five rounds, but Ball got through with some heavy punches toward the end of Round 6 as it looked like the champion began to control the fight.
Ball was docked a point in Round 9 for wrestling Doheny to the canvas, after a previous warning, but it was a brief respite for Doheny as Ball stalked him around the ring. Doheny, who had a swollen right eye for the second half of the fight, ended Round 9 looking vulnerable and Ball came close to stopping it a round later with a relentless, furious assault.
On the undercard, Liverpool’s Andrew Cain (14-1, 12 KOs) defended his British and Commonwealth bantamweight titles with a split points decision over former WBC world flyweight champion Charlie Edwards (20-2, 7 KOs). Cain, 28, earned scores of 115-114 and 116-112 to Cain, with 115-113 to Edwards, in a turgid encounter.