Nick Ball is set to return to the UK for a homecoming defence of his WBA featherweight world title in the coming months.
The new world champion, who has been dubbed the ‘mini Mike Tyson‘ due to his ferocious fighting style, was crowned in June when he made his second attempt at a featherweight belt.
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Ball built his unbeaten record well as a prospect and young contender.
He reached 19-0 (11 KOs) by the end of 2023 with a unanimous win over Isaac Dogboe in Manchester.
This victory earned the scouser a shot at Rey Vargas’ WBC featherweight crown.
That fight was picked up by Saudi boxing chief HE Turki Alalshikh.
HE Alalshikh identified Ball as a boxer he wanted on one of his shows in Riyadh.
As such, the Vargas clash was scheduled for the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou in March.
When the final bell rang, many felt Ball had done enough to secure victory.
He floored Vargas in rounds eight and 11, though was also outboxed at times by his taller opponent.
In the end, not all three judges agreed with the consensus among fans that Ball deserved the win.
While one had it 116-110 for Ball, another scored the contest 114-112 for Vargas.
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The third and final judge’s scorecard read 113-113, meaning the fight was a split draw and the champion retained his WBC featherweight world title.
Thankfully for Ball though, the controversy around the decision was enough to inspire another world title fight to be quickly put together for him.
On June 1, as part of the Queensberry-Matchroom 5 vs 5 event, he challenged Ray Ford for the WBA featherweight world title.
The entertaining contest went the distance and ended in a split decision once again, this time landing in Ball’s favour.
While one judge had it 115-113 for Ford, the Brit snatched the world title with the other both two scoring it 115-113 in his favour.
Now, he is heading for a homecoming first defence back in the UK.
According to ESPN, Ball will defend his crown against American veteran Ronny Rios on October 5 in Liverpool.
Rios, 34, has previously challenged for world titles at super-bantamweight on two occasions.
He was beaten by Vargas challenging for the WBC in 2017 and more recently lost to Murodjon Akhmadaliev for the WBA and IBF crowns in 2022.
Rios has since returned and moved up to featherweight, picking up one win to improve his overall record to 34-3 (17 KOs) at present.
Now he will challenge for a world title in his new weight, though is set to be a significant underdog against Ball.