The WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball is enjoying life.
“Yeah – world champ, innit?” he cheerfully told BoxingScene. “I’m feeling good – staying focused and just looking forward to the next one.”
Within the space of seven months Ball dominated the respected former super-bantamweight champion Isaac Dogboe, appeared extremely unfortunate to have to settle for a draw after twice dropping the long-reigning WBC champion Rey Vargas, and then outfought the quality Raymond Ford to win the WBA title and finally become world champion.
He may have established himself at world level but don’t expect the ambitious Liverpudlian to suddenly fall for the modern trend of fighting once or twice a year.
Ball, 20-0-1 (11 KOs), is deadly serious about his business and sees no reason to slow down.
“It’s the only way to be to be honest,” he said. “It’s also giving the people what they want – fighting the best and the biggest names – and it’s good for myself too,” he said. “I’ve just boxed two of the best champions in the division. I’m not going to then take a backwards step. I want to carry on making progress. There’s always more.
“I’ve become a world champion but I always knew that was going to happen. There’s more. There are levels. I just want to keep climbing the levels and taking it to a new one each time. I wanna do things that’ll put me in those positions.”
Ball has made his name against two boxers who figured to pose him serious tactical problems. Hereafter the 27-year-old’s major challenges will come against fighters who are as determined to impose themselves on their opponent as he is.
Whether Ball is pitted against the volume punching of the WBC interim champion Brandon Figueroa, the eccentric aggression of the IBF title holder Luis Alberto Lopez or the power punching of the tall WBO champion Rafael Espinoza, fireworks are all but assured.
Ball has spent his entire fighting life giving away height and reach but if he was able to get inside the long reach of the experienced Vargas and to force the slick southpaw Ford to hold his feet and exchange punches, he will be extremely confident of engaging in give-and-take battles with fighters whose first thought is offence. Ball may even return to the destructive form that characterized his rise through the ranks.
“Each fight is different, and each opponent is different,” he continued. “I always work towards being destructive and hurting them. They’ll see. They’ll definitely see fight by fight.
“That plays right into my hands because I like to do that too. I’m not going to be taking any backwards steps. I’ll be right there to have a fight. The best will always come out on top in the end.
“That is great because it’s gonna show the best of me when somebody’s there to be hit and I can really offload on them, whereas some opponents are tricky and you’ve gotta do different things and outwork them. It just shows how good of a champion I am that I can adjust. Real champions do that. They adjust when they need to.
“I feel it’s only the start. This is where it’s happening – I just have to keep going and carry on doing what I’ve been doing.”
Last month, Ball’s trainer, Paul Stevenson, told BoxingScene that he would love Ball to welcome pound-for-pound superstar, Naoya Inoue, to the featherweight division. The undisputed super bantamweight champion will defend his titles against TJ Doheny on September 3rd and will then reassess whether to stay at 122lbs or move to featherweight and attempt to win a world title in a fifth weight class.
“That’d be massive if he does move up like he’s saying or like everybody is saying. That’d be a massive fight to make and one I’d be looking forward to,100%,” Ball said.
“There are only good times coming and special nights that we can look forward to. Giving everybody what they want, which is exciting fights and the best fighting the best. That’s what I do best.”
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