For the modern brand of boxing content provider, a third party sending across an invitation to join a zoom call with Nick Ball may be an insignificant event which gets quickly slotted into the daily schedule.
For those who saw the 27 year-old Liverpudlian turn professional and have followed his career from the very start, it is a notable indication of just how far he has progressed.
The WBA featherweight champion hasn’t suddenly gone big time – he is as easy to reach on the phone as ever – but over the past six months the fighter who turned professional anonymously at the Fuse Nightclub in Liverpool seven years ago has become a staple on the biggest, most high-profile shows and his status as a world champion means that there are suddenly people in the media queuing up to speak to him.
It is a far cry from his early days on the small-hall circuit when Ball would show up for a low key press conference and sit quietly at a long trestle table, waiting for a microphone to be passed along the line.
“We’ve come along way since then, fighting in sports centres, haven’t we?” Ball told BoxingScene. “From starting literally at the bottom and working my way up the hard way. It’s the only way and it’s something special.
“It just makes you who you are today and it makes it all more worth it to be honest. It makes it feel all the more better. You’ve done it from the bottom and gone all the way up. You’ve done it in the sports centres and the nightclubs. You’ve been out selling tickets and seeing people. You’ve been out collecting money and things like that. It’s all part of the journey and when you’re at the top those times are special. You don’t forget the people who would come to support you in those moments at the start and then bringing them to the top with me as a team.”
Lots of sportsmen will tell you that their favourite days were those when they could compete for fun and for the love of the sport, long before the pressures of earning a living turned their hobby into a job.
World champions regularly talk about their days fighting in working men’s clubs or on minibus journeys around the country with old amateur teammates, and do so with much more fondness than they do their title-winning professional nights.
Ball’s trainer, Paul Stevenson, has always fostered a team atmosphere at his Everton Red Triangle gym and Ball has shared car rides and dressing rooms with his gym mates since his days spent fighting in sports centres and nightclubs. Ball has patiently waited his turn to have his hands wrapped and warmed up in a communal dressing room while his friend fights, anxiously waiting for them to return with a new battle tale to share.
The fighters from E.R.T have risen together. The venues way be grander and the stakes may be higher in 2024 but Ball remains one of the team. Earlier in July he was in London supporting Andrew Cain while Cain won the British and Commonwealth European bantamweight titles. In August the team will be in Manchester for Joe McGrail’s next fight.
Accomplishing his dreams alongside his friends and teammates has made Ball’s success all the more memorable.
“I was just smiling when you said that,” he said. “It was a special night on Saturday when [Cain] became the British and Commonwealth champion. It is something special. You don’t get to take it in because you’re in the gym focusing every day but when you think back, it really is special.
“You’ve gotta stay listening – always. You have to remember where you started and where you came from and just stay focused with the same people around you. Don’t get ahead of yourself or get too big for your boots. I’m not the type to do that.
“It never stops and it’s never gonna stop with the work that we’re doing with Paul and Ant. The only way is up. Andrew just won at the weekend. Joe McGrail’s up next. Peter McGrail’s up soon. We’ve got Brad Strand; Bomba Brown. Lucas Biswana is going to be making his debut soon and he’s one to look out for too. The gym is on the rise and we’re not stopping. We’re coming for it all.”
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