WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball (21-0-1, 12 KOs) has a tough mandatory challenger, Stephen Fulton, coming up for him next following his gut-wrenching tenth round victory on Saturday night against Ronny Rios ( 34-5, 17 KOs) at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena.
The boxing skills of former WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Fulton will be a big problem for the 5’2″ Ball if this fight happens next because he has the kind of ability the 27-year-old hasn’t seen before.
It was Ball’s first defense of his newly won WBA 126-lb title, but he may need to face his mandatory Fulton (22-1 8 KOs) next if the World Boxing Association orders the match. Ball said tonight that he wants to fight a unification after one of the champions at 126, but we will see if the WBA will allow it.
Fulton lost to Naoya Inoue in July of last year by an eighth-round knockout in Tokyo, Japan. He was too much firepower for Fulton at the time, and he fought too cautiously against the Japanese star in front of his fans at the Ariake Arena. Against Ball, Fulton could handle the style much easier because he is not a sharpshooter with the speed and power of Inoue.
#1 WBA Fulton looked spectacular last month, defeating Carlos Castro by a 10-round split decision victory on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga on September 14th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
If the WBA allows Ball to swerve Fulton to fight one of the other featherweight champions, a fight against WBO champion Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs) would be the logical thing to do next.
“I always try to take them out, no matter what. If I feel the rhythm, then they feel the rhythm ten times worse. It continues until the bell goes, until the fight is over,” said Nick Ball to Social boxing.
“In boxing, it’s about who wants it more. When you’re in there, it’s just you and him. It’s who wants it more.”
Last updated on 05/10/2024
