Within the space of seven months, Nick Ball dominated the respected former junior featherweight titleholder Isaac Dogboe, appeared extremely unfortunate to have to settle for a draw after twice dropping the long-reigning WBC champion Rey Vargas, and then outfought the quality Raymond Ford to win the WBA title and finally become world champion.
Amateur success doesn’t necessarily equal pro success.
Paul Stevenson has been the head trainer at the Everton Red Triangle gym for years and has overseen a conveyor belt of quality fighters and respected champions. Finally, one of his fighters has brought a world title belt back to the famous old Liverpool gym.
By Jake Donovan - Nick Ball punched his way into title contention with his most significant win to date. The unbeaten featherweight outhustled former WBO junior featherweight titlist Isaac Dogboe to claim a twelve-round, unanimous decision victory. Judges Mark Lyson (119-108), Kevin Parker (118-109) and Kieran McCann (116-111) all ruled for Ball in their TNT Sports/ESPN+ televised WBC featherweight title eliminator Saturday evening at AO Arena in Manchester, England.
Nick Ball has been building an ever growing army of fans in Britain with his all action, ultra aggressive style. On Saturday night the unbeaten featherweight aims to make his mark on the world scene.
Nick Ball and Isaac Dogboe are all set to meet at the crossroads. Both boxers easily made weight ahead of their WBC featherweight title eliminator. Liverpool’s Ball (18-0, 11KOs) was a slim and fit 125 pounds as he faces his first former titlist. Dogboe (24-3, 15KOs)—an Accra, Ghana native who lives in London—was 125.2 pounds in a bid to bounce back from a WBO featherweight title defeat to Robeisy Ramirez earlier this year.
Former world champion Isaac Dogboe admits that he never heard of Nick Ball before their WBC title eliminator came about. Dogboe will collide with Ball on Saturday night, in the main event of the Magnificent Seven boxing event at the Manchester Arena in Manchester.
WE HAVE BEEN back on the press conference beat over the last week, setting the ball rolling on a sequence of fights that you can call, without hesitation, proper bangers!
British and Commonwealth featherweight champion, Nathaniel Collins, exploded onto television screens in August, stopping Raza Hamza in just 24 seconds.
In a fight that is certain to draw a bumper crowd from the city of Stoke, Nathan Heaney (17-0, 6) will attempt to realise his dream when he challenges Denzel Bentley (18-2-1, 15) for the British Middleweight title, with the WBA Continental championship belts also on the line.