This is a featherweight fight that has slugfest written all over it. According to boxing reporter Franco Zorzini, Britain’s Nick Ball, the reigning WBA featherweight champ, is set to defend against Mexico’s Luis Nery on August 16. As fans are no doubt aware, August 16 was when Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez were to have fought one another, this in the main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
That fight may not happen now, as talks have said to have collapsed, but hopefully Ball-Nery will still happen. Ball, unbeaten at 22-0-1(13) is all action each and every time he fights, while Nery, a former champion at 118 and 122 pounds, is a real warrior. Nery became the first man to knock down Naoya Inoue when they fought, this back in May of last year. Since being stopped by Inoue, Nery, 36-2(28) has won one fight as a featherweight.
Ball wants Inoue next, but Nery has other plans
Ball is hopeful of landing a huge fight with Inoue himself, if and when “The Monster” makes the move up to the 126 pound division, while the Liverpool man also aims to unify the featherweight titles. Nery will be looking to spoil Ball’s plans. Again, this fight seems like one that cannot fail in the excitement stakes.
30 year old southpaw Nery is a very dangerous fighter who can bang and can also take a good shot. It could be argued that Ball, 28, will be taking the most risky fight of his career with this one. There seems to be no real chance of Ball-Nery going the distance, someone is getting stopped. In fact, this could be a real back-and-forth battle and it wouldn’t be too surprising to see both men go down at some stage in the war.
If Haney vs Lopez collapses, this fight deserves main event status
Again, let’s hope this fight happens, regardless of the situation with Lopez and Haney. Ball-Nery is for sure a fight that is more than solid enough to be the headline act anyway. Ball will be looking to log up his third title retention, while Nery will be looking to become a three-weight world champion.