Latest news with #NickBall
BBC News
10 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Collins seeks 'Scotland v England' bout with Ball
Scottish featherweight Nathaniel Collins is targeting an all-British world title showdown with Nick Ball at the turn of the Glasgow fighter is coming off a stunning win over Scottish rival Lee McGregor at the Hyrdo last month and expects to be back fighting in his home city in 28, hopes that will be the springboard to a fight with WBA champion Ball who, like Collins, is promoted by Frank Warren's Queensberry."I just want to be cracking on to world titles now," Collins told BBC Scotland."It's easy for Queensberry to make world title fights because I'm a featherweight, they've got a world champion featherweight in Nick Ball." And he added: "He's fighting in Saudi Arabia in the next couple of months as well so by the end of the year, or starting next year, that's an easy fight to make."An all British, Scotland v England world title fight - it makes sense."Liverpool fighter Ball, 28, is unbeaten in 23 professional fights and claimed the WBA title with a thrilling win over Raymond Ford in Riyadh last has also yet to taste defeat in his 17 contests as a pro and has no fears of taking on a man considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the UK."We were meant to fight a couple of years ago for the British title and things didn't work out that way and then I've been calling for that ever since," Collins said."Now's the time for it because he's having a great career and building a lot of attention, I'm starting to build a lot of attention, so hopefully within the next six months that becomes a thing that comes to fruition."Collins described his appearance on the Josh Taylor v Ekow Essuman undercard, in which he dropped McGregor three times and stopped him in the fourth round, as "the best night ever".Now as he prepares to headline his own show in September back in Glasgow, Collins wants to ensure big fight nights in Scotland continue to be a feature on the boxing calendar."That was the goal when I first signed with Queensbury, I said I want to bring big nights back to Scotland and Glasgow," he said."I grew up going to Ricky Burns' fights and that made me want to do this. It was spoken about before the last fight, the winner of me and Lee's fight would continue to carry the torch as they say, and hopefully I can keep doing it."
BBC News
13-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Heavyweight Itauma to face Whyte in Saudi
Unbeaten heavyweight Moses Itauma will face fellow Briton Dillian Whyte in Saudi Arabia on 16 20-year-old, seen as one of British boxing's top prospects, has stopped 10 of his 12 opponents since turning professional. The bout marks a major step up for the Kent fighter, with Whyte, 37, a former world-title challenger and seasoned the co-main event in Riyadh, Liverpool's WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball, 28, defends his belt against Australia's Sam on the card, former super-featherweight world champion Anthony Cacace, 36, takes on American Raymond Ford, while British heavyweight David Adeleye, 28, faces Croatia's Filip Hrgovic. Itauma set for toughest pro test Slovakia-born Itauma moved to Chatham in Kent at age three. By 16, he was sparring former world champion Lawrence Okolie and caught the attention of promoter Frank Warren.A powerful southpaw with sharp movement, Itauma was hyped as a future record-breaker - previously tipped to beat Mike Tyson's mark as the youngest heavyweight champion at 20 years and four May, he blasted out Mike Balogun in two rounds but will now face, on paper, his biggest test to date. Whyte, who has won 31 of 34 pro fights, has fought the likes of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury but has struggled for momentum in recent years. A 2023 rematch with Joshua was scrapped after a failed drug test. He protested his innocence, claimed he was cleared of any wrongdoing and returned to action in Ireland March returned with stoppage wins over Christian Hammer and Ebenezer Tetteh, though looked far from his best. Ball and Cacace in competitive fights Ball will make a third defence of the world title he won against Raymond Ford in June Kirkby-born featherweight extended his record to 22 wins and one draw (13 KOs) with victory over TJ Doheny in challenger Sam Goodman - unbeaten in 20 bouts - was due to face Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue in January but withdrew through the undisputed super-bantamweight champion known as 'The Monster', is being tipped as a future opponent for Belfast's Anthony Cacace - who has lost just once in 24 pro bouts - is enjoying a remarkable run. He claimed the IBF title with a stunning stoppage of Joe Cordina in May 2024, then defeated Josh Warrington at Wembley Stadium in vacated the title rather than face mandatory challenger Eduardo 'Sugar' Nunez, and instead beat Leigh Wood by stoppage in Nottingham last month.
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Belfast's Cacace set to fight Ford in Saudi Arabia
Belfast's Anthony Cacace is set for a return to Saudi Arabia on 16 August to face former world featherweight champion Raymond Ford. According to Ring Magazine, 36-year-old Cacace will seek to continue his recent fairytale run against the 26-year-old New Jersey southpaw on a card topped by a heavyweight contest between rising star Moses Itauma and Dillian in action will be WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball - who relieved Ford of the title last year - in a defence against Australia's Sam Riyadh Season event will give Cacace the chance to cement his position as one of the leading lights of the 130-pound claimed the IBF title with a stunning eighth-round win over Joe Cordina in May 2024 before scoring a victory over Josh Warrington at Wembley Stadium in left him with a decision to make in terms of keeping hold of the belt with a mandatory challenger in Eduardo 'Sugar' Nunez next in line, but he opted to relinquish before facing Leigh Wood in Nottingham last month. Following his ninth-round victory against Wood, there was a strong suggestion Cacace was set for Belfast homecoming, but he was also keen to stress his willingness to travel in order to secure another big since went on to win the vacant IBF title with a points win over Masanori Rikiishi in Japan last month and would have represented the most realistic path back to an immediate shot at one of the four main titles.O'Shaquie Foster looks set to defend his WBC belt against Stephen Fulton later in the summer, while WBO holder Emanuel Navarrete has been ordered to rematch Charly Suarez after his controversial technical decision victory was changed to a WBA champion Lamont Roach set for a lightweight rematch against Gervonta Davis later in the year, it leaves those super-featherweight title belts tied up, but a meeting with Ford represents a major challenge for Cacace.
News.com.au
08-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Aussie boxer Sam Goodman lands shock featherweight world title fight against Nick Ball
Sam Goodman has landed a shock world title fight, with the Aussie boxer set to move up to featherweight to challenge WBA champion Nick Ball in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on August 16. The fight will be the co-main event to English heavyweight sensation Moses Itauma's step-up fight against veteran Dillian Whyte. Goodman had been chasing super-bantamweight kingpin Naoya Inoue for two years, but jumped at the opportunity to face Ball instead in a move that will disrupt Inoue's own fight plans. Nicknamed 'The Monster', Inoue is lined up to defend his super-bantamweight crown against Murodjon Akhmadaliev in September in Japan. He was expected to then make a move to featherweight to challenge Ball later in the year. Goodman's team instead opted to move up and fight Ball first, and will look at facing Inoue at featherweight instead. 'The Monster won't fight us, so we will take his December opponent out and then he has to fight us,' Goodman's manager, Peter Mitrevski told Code Sports. 'We aren't afraid of monsters. 'He doesn't want to fight us, so we'll move up to featherweight and take on the featherweight monster.' Ball and Goodman have indirect history too. The Englishman's main training partner, Brad Strand, was the man who cut Goodman in sparring just 10 days out from his first scheduled bout with Inoue last December. The unbeaten Aussie twice missed out on a whopping seven-figure payday to fight Inoue, after the cut opened up again in sparring a month later. The double setbacks left Goodman so broke that he admitted to having to steal dog food from Coles before his comeback win over Cesar Vaca last month. The 22-0-1 Ball is stocky and explosive, and won the WBA title in June last year. He has defended it twice, most recently against Irish-Aussie veteran TJ Doheny, who Goodman beat by decision in 2023. Ball's win over Doheny nearly descended into chaos when the Englishman kicked the challenger in the back of the legs in the final seconds of a testy first round in Liverpool. Goodman's surprise featherweight world title fight was made official this weekend, and caps off a remarkable run for Aussie boxers on the world stage, with Tim Tszyu, Justis Huni, Jai Opetaia and George Kambosos all in world title fights over the next 10 weeks.
