Nick Ball will defend his WBA title against former super bantamweight world champion TJ Doheny in Liverpool next year.
Featherweight Ball will headline an exciting Liverpool card at the M&S Bank Arena on March 15. The Merseyside champion previously headlined in his home city in October when he overcame American Ronny Rios to retain his world title.
Ireland’s TJ Doheny proves a stern test for Ball, the former world champion is coming off a loss to Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue who Ball has been linked to fight.
Ball said: “I’ll figure him out on the night, that’s why I’m world champion, because that’s what you have got to do with any opponent. So I will be doing whatever it takes to get the job done.”
Doheny became the IBF super bantamweight champion in 2018 after beating Ryosuke Iwasa by unanimous decision in Japan. After one successful defence, ‘The Power’ then lost his title against Daniel Roman in 2019.
Doheny said: “Very grateful for the opportunity, especially coming back after a championship fight, coming straight back into championship level.
“He (Ball) is a solid fighter, he’s good all round. He brings a lot of good pressure, he tries to break fighters down, but I think with me he is going to be dealing with a craftier fighter than he’s ever been in with.”
The Everton Red Triangle fighter previously said Doheny quit against Inoue to which the Irish fighter responded by naming Ball, ‘Nick Ballbag’.
Reflecting in his comments about Doheny, Ball said: “I don’t regret them. To be honest I didn’t even watch the fight, but I saw that little clip and he got hit with a body shot and said something about his back. But obviously only he knows.”
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Ball’s promoter, Frank Warren said: “Nick Ball, the best featherweight in the world, gets to fight in his home city for the second time as a world champion and he is up against a fighter of huge pedigree in TJ Doheny.”
Fellow Everton Red Triangle boxer, Andrew Cain, puts his British and Commonwealth bantamweight belts on the line against European champion, Charlie Edwards who also trains in Liverpool.
Former world champion Edwards is eight years unbeaten and has an impressive record of 20 wins and one loss.
Speaking at the press launch Edwards said: “I don’t think Andrew (Cain) thought I would accept this fight. He might even pull out of this fight yet, he might not even fancy the job because I’ve been screaming world titles.”
Liverpool’s Brad Strand is also on the card and faces Romanian Ionut Baluta who has beaten Cain and Doheny earlier in his career.
Strand and Baluta are both looking to build after defeats to Rotunda’s Dennis McCann who was set to fight Liverpool’s Peter McGrail in Saudi Arabia later this month before an adverse finding appeared in an anti-doping test.
Warren has pledged to bring box office fights back to Liverpool. He said: “This card is literally combustible!
“Andrew Cain against Charlie Edwards is the perfect match to make. The British and Commonwealth champion with big world title ambitions going up against a former world champion who is now European champion at bantamweight.
“We said that we wanted to re-establish Liverpool as a premier destination for the best of boxing and we mean what we say.”
With the card already drawing attention with the existing needle between the fighters it’s set to be an explosive start to 2025 for Liverpool and Nick Ball.
