Nick Ball walked away with the win on March 15 when he faced TJ Doheny at Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Making his hometown ring appearance, the unbeaten world champion retained his title by defeating a tough challenger inside the distance.
Doheny retired on his stool prior to the start of the 11th round, and the referee called it a day. On his way to victory via a 10th-round RTD, Ball kicked Doheny at the end of the first round and was deducted a point for throwing his opponent to the ground in the ninth round.
With the win, Nick Ball improved to 22-0-1, 13 KOs, and made the second successful defense of his WBA featherweight title. Australia-based Irish former champion TJ Doheny dropped to 26-6, 20 KOs, and suffered his second straight defeat since falling short against Naoya Inoue last September.
In the 12-round co-main event, Andrew Cain (14-1, 12 KOs) defeated Charlie Edwards (20-2, 7 KOs) by split decision with the scores 113-115, 115-114, and 116-112. With the victory, Cain retained his British, Commonwealth, and WBC International ‘Silver’ bantamweight belts.
Among other Ball vs Doheny results, local Jack Turner (11-0, 10 KOs) stopped Ryan Farrag (23-6, 6 KOs) in the second round to claim the vacant WBA International super flyweight title. Cuba’s Jadier Herrera (17-0, 15 KOs) TKO’d Mexico’s Jose Macias Enriquez (21-4-2, 8 KOs) in the seventh round to win the WBA Intercontinental title at lightweight.
Additionally, Romania’s Ionut Baluta (17-5-1, 3 KOs) took a split decision against England’s Brad Strand (12-2, 4 KOs) to earn the vacant European super bantamweight title. After 10 rounds, the scores were 93-97, 98-91, and 96-94.