Without necessarily having a stand-out pound-for-pound number one or ‘face’ of boxing at present, the sport continues to flourish and is arguably in a better position when there are multiple contenders for each of those mantles. However, when it comes to who the most exciting fighter on the planet is, Frank Warren had no difficulties narrowing his list down to one man.
Turki Al-Alshikh’s intervention into the sport has provided a platform for numerous unlikely faces to make a name for themselves on the world stage, with Agit Kabayel, Martin Bakole and Daniel Dubois all finding success in the Middle East and emerging as heavyweight title contenders or even champions.
Although, one man who has benefited even more than that trio is Liverpool featherweight Nick Ball, who fought in back-to-back world title contests in Saudi Arabia, drawing the first with Luis Alberto Lopez before becoming WBA champion with a split-decision triumph over previously undefeated American Raymond Ford.
In an interview with Queensberry, Frank Warren declared ‘The Wrecking’ Ball to be the most exciting fighter on the planet, ahead of his homecoming event in Liverpool.
“He is the most exciting fighter in the world. For the amount of shots that he throws and the action, it is all-action. As soon as the first bell goes, he is just on you all of the time, letting his punches go and he has got a good defence as well. Don’t think he is some guy that just walks forwards, he slips punches and he is a very smart boxer, but he is exciting.
“Two very, very big fights in the space of ten weeks in Riyadh, as part of the Riyadh Season. He got robbed in the first one, where he fought the best featherweight in the world and he won that fight, it was a terrible decision. He certainly won the second fight, as we know, and he got that one.
“There should be two belts on the line against [Ronny] Rios on the 5th of October here, but this is what it is all about – this is a homecoming for him. This is the first time that there has been a male title fight in Liverpool since 2019, I think that it is the first world title fight that we have put on here since 2016.
“This is a hotbed of boxing in the north-west. We are going to do here what we did many years ago in Manchester, where we turned it into the capital of British boxing with all of the big fights, and as we have done recently in the Midlands.”
Ball (20-0-1) will headline a card in his hometown for the first time since signing with Warren, taking on California’s Ronny Rios (34-4), who has twice challenged for world honours at super-bantamweight in the past.
Meanwhile, on the undercard, Andrew Cain (12-1) defends his British bantamweight title against Joshua John (10-2), whilst Jack Rafferty (23-0) and Henry Turner (13-0) battle it out for the vacant super-lightweight version of the Lonsdale Belt.
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