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After winning the WBA world featherweight title in Saudi Arabia against Raymond Ford at the start of June, Nick Ball returns home to Liverpool to defend his belt against American Ronny Rios
WHO IS ON THE UNDERCARD?
Jack Rafferty vs. Henry Turner; For the vacant British super lightweight title
Andrew Cain vs. Lazaro Casseres; Bantamweight
Jadier Herrera vs. Oliver Flores; Lightweight
James McGivern vs. Reuquen Cona Facundo Arce; Lightweight
Brad Strand vs. Marvin Solano; Super bantamweight
Jack Turner vs. Gonzalo Corinaldesi; Bantamweight
Boma Brown vs. Amine Boucetta; Heavyweight
Lucas Biswana vs. Jakub Laskowski; Super lightweight
Walter Fury vs. Dale Arrowsmith; Light middleweight
Joe Cooper vs. Lukasz Barabasz; Middleweight
WHERE IS NICK BALL VS RONNY RIOS TAKING PLACE?
Nick Ball versus Ronny Rios is taking place at the M&S Arena in Liverpool, England
WHEN IS NICK BALL VS RONNY RIOS?
Nick Ball versus Ronny Rios is taking place on 5th October, 2024 with the card expected to start at 7pm local time, 2pm ET and 11 PT
WHAT TIME IS THE RING WALK EXPECTED FOR NICK BALL VS RONNY RIOS?
The main event is expected to start at 10.30pm local time, 5.30pm ET, 2.30pm PT
WHAT TV CHANNEL IS SHOWING NICK BALL VS RONNY RIOS?
The fight will be shown live in the UK on TNT Sports 2 and on ESPN+ in the US
WHAT ABOUT LIVE STREAMING?
The fight will be streamed on the TNT app in the UK and ESPN+ in the States
WHAT ARE THEIR FIGHT RECORDS?
Nick Ball: 20-0-1
Ronny Rios: 34-4
NICK BALL: WRECKING BALL LOOKS TO DEFEND BELT IN HOMETOWN
Nick Ball returns to Liverpool and consecutive fights in Saudi Arabia and he will look to defend his featherweight belt against Ronny Rios.
In what is sure to be a packed-out arena, Ball will be desperate to follow up on his win in Riyadh where he outpointed Raymond Ford to claim the belt.
Prior to that fight, he fought Rey Vargas to a split draw in what is the only bout of his professional boxing career that he has not won.
RONNY RIOS: CALIFORNIAN 34-YEAR-OLD TARGETING THE UPSET IN FIRST FIGHT ON FOREIGN SOIL
Ronny Rios is a 34-year-old American who in his 39th fight of his professional Boxing career, will fight outside of the States for the very first time. Rios last fought in April where he stopped Nicolas Polanco in round of five and he now has a chance to win a belt after previous success.
He held the WBA (super) and IBF super bantamweight titles after beating Diego de la Hoya in July 2019 and went on to defend them twice against Hugo Berrio and Oscar Negrete.
Rios was then ordered by the WBA to fight Murodjon Akhmadaliev whom he lost to in June 2022 and in turn, lost the belts. Following that, the veteran had almost two years out of the ring before returning for the Polanco fight.
FIGHT PREDICTION
Nick Ball will be desperate to win on is homecoming fight and this bout looks like one which has been well made by his team. He faces Ronny Rios who is a season veteran of good calibre but while he should test Ball and keep him honest, it is hard to see him springing the upset.
Ball has youth on his side and momentum, and a desperation in front of his home crowd to defend his belt. On the contrary, he meets Rios who has never fought outside of the States and has not even ventured over to the East Coast never mind a foreign country.
This will be something of a culture shock for Rios and while he should put in a game and competitive performance, Ball should be able to outwork him and potentially stop him late on.
TIP: NICK BALL TO WIN WITH LATE STOPPAGE