{"id":343992,"date":"2025-12-31T04:05:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T04:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/343992\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T04:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T04:05:14","slug":"nick-ball-sees-brandon-figueroa-as-kindred-spirit-but-certain-hes-on-another-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/343992\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Ball sees Brandon Figueroa as kindred spirit, but certain he’s on another level"},"content":{"rendered":"

LIVERPOOL, England \u2014 Well-rested and happy, WBA featherweight world champion Nick Ball<\/a> is raring to get back to action.
Sat on a balcony at Liverpool\u2019s BoxPark, the Liverpudlian looked down at the screens advertising his February 7 title defence against dangerous American Brandon Figueroa.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a proper one innit?\u201d Ball (23-0-1, 13 KOs) said before the event\u2019s launch press conference started.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t become a two-weight world champion by being average. He fights like me \u2014 well, he\u2019s gonna find out he\u2019s nothing like me \u2014 but there are similarities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March 2024, The Ring\u2019s No. 3 featherweight embarked on a run of five world title fights within 18 months.<\/a> <\/p>\n

He was held to a controversial split draw by WBC champion Rey Vargas of Mexico but just three months later he outfought Raymond Ford to win the WBA title.<\/p>\n

Capitalising on his success, Ball returned to Liverpool and stopped the experienced Ronny Rios and TJ Doheny. In August he outpointed Australia\u2019s Sam Goodman.<\/a>
Ball did more than enough <\/a>to beat the smart Goodman but wasn\u2019t at his rampaging best.
After bouncing from camp to camp, Ball took a few months to recuperate and the thought of taking on the aggressive, accomplished Figueroa <\/a>(26-2-1, 19 KOs) has reawakened the same excitement he felt before the fights with Vargas and Ford. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s on,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery fight you’ve got to be on it. Your life’s on the line, even more so with a fighter like this. You’ve got to be on it, you can’t switch off. You’ve got to listen to people around you and keep doing what you’ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The relentless, aggressive Ball has been able to impose himself on all of his professional opponents.<\/p>\n

Despite standing 5-foor-9, Figueroa is happy to give away his advantages in height and reach and engage his opponents at close quarters. In July, he threw more than 1,000 punches as he outpointed Joet Gonzalez in their WBA title eliminator.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ball won\u2019t have to persuade Figueroa to hold his feet. The Texan will come to Liverpool looking for a fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s going to, isn’t he?\u201d Ball said. \u201cHe\u2019s coming over to Liverpool to try and take my belt. He\u2019s got a world title opportunity, hasn’t he? He’s going to come and try, that’s his job to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he going to succeed?\u201d Ball added with a smile. \u201cWho knows?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball, 28, is the longest reigning of Britain\u2019s four reigning world champions. He also keeps the most low profile. He doesn\u2019t live his life through social media and is rarely seen unless he is supporting one of his teammates from the Everton Red Triangle Gym. <\/p>\n

Figueroa would be a noteworthy addition to what is rapidly becoming one of the deepest resumes in British boxing.<\/p>\n

Fighters who have achieved a fraction of what he has receive far more attention, but Ball hasn\u2019t spent a second thinking about where he stands in the domestic pecking order. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s not for me to answer. That’s for you guys and the people watching to answer,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I’m an exciting fighter. People always want to watch all-action fighters put it all on the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone’s got their opinions. People are going to say it, people aren’t going to say it. It doesn’t really matter. I’m just going to continue doing me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIVERPOOL, England \u2014 Well-rested and happy, WBA featherweight world champion Nick Ball is raring to get back to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6842,6836,6841,6840,6834,6102,6837,6838,6839,6835,6588,6847,6846,6830,6828,6829,6844,6831,6827,6848,6843,101,6845,6826,6833,56,54,55,6832],"class_list":{"0":"post-343992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-community","10":"tag-boxing-fights","11":"tag-boxing-history","12":"tag-boxing-interviews","13":"tag-boxing-magazine","14":"tag-boxing-news","15":"tag-boxing-photos","16":"tag-boxing-rankings","17":"tag-boxing-schedule","18":"tag-boxing-videos","19":"tag-boxing-results","20":"tag-disqualification","21":"tag-draw","22":"tag-fight","23":"tag-fighter","24":"tag-fighter-news","25":"tag-knockout","26":"tag-latest-boxing-matches","27":"tag-ring","28":"tag-ring-magazine","29":"tag-split-decision","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-technical-knockout","32":"tag-the-ring","33":"tag-top-fighters","34":"tag-uk","35":"tag-united-kingdom","36":"tag-unitedkingdom","37":"tag-upcoming-boxing-matches"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}