Nick Ball became Britain’s latest world champion after defeating Ray Ford to win the WBA featherweight title.
The fight was taking part on the Queensberry vs. Matchroom card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with Ball coming out on top via split decision.
It was an incredible back and forth battle between Ball and Ford, with each of them displaying amazing heart and skills to see out the entire fight.
Ball started the fight well, but the momentum appeared to be swinging in Ford’s favour as it hit the middle rounds. Ball came back strong in the later rounds though, with each fighter giving everything they had.
After 12 rounds the cards read 115-113 Ford, 115-113 Ball, and 115-113 Ball to see Britain earn a new world champion and hand Queensberry the victory.
It sees Ball become world champion after controversially drawing with Rey Vargas in his first world title shot earlier this year, and he was delighted to come out on top.
“I’m made up. My style is all-action putting the pressure on and I feel like I did that well and it’s paid off. This is boxing, you’re going to get hit so it’s about how you recover and come back. That’s what a true champion does and that’s what I am now.
“I had to dig deep and I’m going home with the belt. Now it’s about seeing what’s next and seeing what Frank has got going on. I’ll be waiting for the call.”
It was the second fight of the night on the Queensberry vs. Matchroom 5 on 5 card, as the evening began with Willy Hutchinson earning a unanimous decision win against Craig Richards.
Hutchinson put in a great performance to win the majority of the rounds, with the judges scoring it 119-109, 117-111, 116-112 in his favour.
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