Nick Ball has a home date this Saturday at the Echo Arena, as the Liverpudlian defends his WBA featherweight title for a second time against TJ Doheny.
TNT Sports televise Ball vs Doheny whilst Frank Warren’s Queensberry promote.
Ball (21-0-1, 12 KOs) has been mightily impressive to date, and was unlucky not to become world champion in March last year, when he dropped Rey Vargas twice for the WBC title, but was only awarded a split draw for his efforts.
It wasn’t long before ‘The Wrecking’ was crowned though, as he was superb in taking a split verdict against Raymond Ford to secure the WBA belt.
His first defence was an emphatic one back in Liverpool in October last year, as he broke Ronny Rios down, dropping the American three times before the fight was stopped in round ten.
Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs) is coming to the end of a career of ups and downs, and the Irishman based in Australia will definitely come to roll the dice for a final time.
After serving as IBF champion at super bantamweight, Doheny lost a unification to Daniel Roman in 2019, and then lost three bouts in four contests to Innut Baluta, Michael Conlan and Sam Goodman, all on the cards, to leave his career at the crossroads.
He would resurface in Japan to take three upset wins over home-favoured fighters and that led to a shot at the undisputed super bantamweight title against the phenomenal Naoya Inoue last September. Doheny gave a good account of himself, but a back injury then led to a seventh round stoppage loss.
Prediction: This looks like a fight that can showcase Ball, and get him in line for big fights in 2025, with Naoya Inoue touted for the Scouser. I think he is getting Doheny at a good time, and he can grind the challenger down for a stoppage win around halfway.
Cain steps up against Edwards
An intriguing chief support sees Andrew Cain (13-1, 12 KOs) defend his British, Commonwealth and WBC International Silver bantamweight titles against former WBC flyweight champion, Charlie Edwards (20-1, 7 KOs).
Cain has rebounded well from a March 2023 split verdict loss to Ionut Baluta, winning British and Commonwealth crowns with a fifth round stoppage of Ashley Lane in July last year. He was last out three months later, halting Lazaro Casseres in two rounds to win the fringe WBC strap.
Edwards has laboured since moving up in weight after his run at flyweight, but is coming off a European title win last September, where he clearly outscored Thomas Essomba.
Prediction: Edwards has gone sideways since being a world champion, and Cain will be hungry to impress. I favour Cain to be a winner by late stoppage in this one.
Further undercard preview
In ten rounders, Jaider Herrera (16-0, 14 KOs), the highly-touted Cuban, should impress with an early win against Mexico’s Jose Macias Enriquez (21-3-2, 8 KOs) at lightweight, and at super bantamweight, Brad Strand (12-1, 4 KOs) can box his way to the vacant WBO European title with a points win over the teak-tough Ionut Baluta (16-5-1, 3 KOs), who has given many a British fighter problems over the years.
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Super flyweight prospect Jack Turner (10-0, 9 KOs) can win on points against the faded former European champion, Ryan Farrag (23-5, 6 KOs).
At six round level, Boma Brown (5-0, 3 KOs) can take his heavyweight clash with Cristian Uwaka (1-5, 1 KO) early, and middleweight prospect Jack Power (4-0, 1 KO) can come through on points against Jose Aguirre (2-10, 1 KO). Also at middleweight, Stephen Clarke (5-0, KO1) can be a points winner against Estonia’s Dmitri Protkunas (8-17-1, 1 KO).
In four round action, Lucas Biswana (1-0, 0 KOs) should win on points against Ezequiel Gregores (3-20, 0 KOs), and featherweight debutant William Birchall can do the same against Engel Gomez (8-43-3, 4 KOs).
At super welterweight, Lewis Lawton makes a debut, where he should come through on the referee’s card against Artjom Spatar (4-12-1, 1 KO), and super bantamweight first-timer Leighton Birchall should also take victory on points against Laszlo Bernath (1-1, 1 KO).
