Fighting for the eighth time since making his professional debut in May, middleweight Kendrick Ball Jr. of Worcester, Mass., returns to Twin River Casino next month in another intriguing battle of unbeatens.
Ball Jr. (5-0-2, 4 KOs) puts his undefeated record on the line Friday, April 7th, 2017 against Cranston, R.I., native and nearby Warwick resident Zachary Christy (1-0-1), a decorated U.S. Air Force vet who fights for the first time since September of 2014.
The six-round Ball Jr.-Christy bout highlights the undercard of CES Boxing’s World Boxing Council U.S. National Boxing Council (WBC USNBC) Welterweight Championship main event between Nick DeLomba (11-1, 2 KOs) and Jimmy Williams (12-0-1, 5 KOs).
The always-ready Ball Jr. faces his third undefeated opponent; he battled Connecticut’s 5-0 David Wilson to a draw in July and later fought to a draw against 9-0-1 Nathan Millier in December. Last month, Ball scored his fifth win as a pro and fourth career knockout in just 29 seconds against last-minute replacement Patrick Leal when his original opponent, Kenneth Glenn, withdrew due to injury.
A staff sergeant for the U.S. Air Force for nearly a decade, Christy, 31, fought sporadically as an amateur due to his military travels, which included multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Kuwait. While stationed in Tampa, Fla., Christy briefly trained at the St. Pete Boxing Club under Dan Birmingham, who helped guide Winky Wright and Keith Thurman to world titles.
The Cranston native began his boxing career in Rhode Island at the age of 15 under the guidance of the late Tiny Ricci.
