WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball (21-0-1, 12 KOs) has a tough opponent, Stephen Fulton, coming up after his tough tenth round victory on Saturday night against Ronny Rios (34-5, 17 KOs) at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.
Former WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Fulton’s boxing skills will be a big problem for the 5’2″ Ball if that fight comes down to it because he has a level of skill the 27-year-old has never seen before.
That 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 bout. Ball said tonight that he wants to fight and unify one of the champions at 126, but we will see if the WBA will allow that.
Fulton lost to Naoya Inoue last July by knockout in the eighth round in Tokyo, Japan. It was a huge fire for Fulton at the time, and he fought very carefully against the Japanese star in front of his fans at Ariake Arena. If we are facing Ball, Fulton will be able to deal with the style very easily because he is not a sharpshooter with the speed and power of Inoue.
#1 WBA Fulton looked impressive last month, defeating Carlos Castro with a 10-round split decision win 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 deviate from Fulton to fight another champion at featherweight, a fight against WBO champion Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs) is the logical next step.
“I’m always looking to get them out no matter what. If I feel the speed, then they will be feeling the speed ten times worse. Keep going until the bell rings, until the fight is over,” said Nick Ball on Boxing Social.
“In boxing, it depends on who you want the most. When you’re inside, it’s just you and him. It’s what you want the most.”
Last updated on 10/05/2024
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