Nick Ball to Defend WBA Featherweight Title Against TJ Doheny in Liverpool

Liverpool’s featherweight world champion, Nick Ball, is scheduled to defend his WBA title in his home city against TJ Doheny. The event will take place on Saturday, 15 March, at the M&S Bank Arena. The 27-year-old champion secured a victory over Ronny Rios in October, and this upcoming fight marks his second defence of the belt he won against Raymond Ford in Saudi Arabia last year. Doheny, an Irishman aged 38, is a former IBF super-bantamweight champion. His professional record includes 26 wins and five losses, among which is a seventh-round stoppage defeat to undisputed super-bantamweight title-holder Naoya Inoue in September. Frank Warren of Queensberry, who promotes Ball, stated: “Nick Ball, the best featherweight in the world, gets to fight in his home city for the second time as world champion and he is up against a fighter of huge pedigree in TJ Doheny.” Known as ‘Wrecking Ball’, Ball, who made his debut in a Liverpool nightclub in 2017, has expressed aspirations for a future fight with Japan’s pound-for-pound star Inoue. Ball remains undefeated in 22 fights, having won 12 inside the distance, and this bout provides him with the opportunity to compete in his home city of Liverpool for the second successive time. This will be Ball’s fourth consecutive title bout. His recent title history includes a draw with WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas in March, followed by his victory over Ford three months later, and then a defence in Liverpool against American Rios. In addition, bantamweight Andrew Cain will also compete on home soil in an all-British bout against Londoner Charlie Edwards, a former world champion. A third Liverpudlian, Brad Strand, is set to feature on the undercard, where he will face Romania’s Ionut Baluta for the vacant WBO European super-bantamweight title.