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Mike Coppinger, ESPN Boxing Insider
Nick Ball and Ronny Rios are in the process of finalizing a deal for a WBA featherweight title fight Oct. 5 in Liverpool, England, sources tell ESPN.
Ball’s first 126-pound title defense will be a homecoming; he fights out of Liverpool, where he was born.
Ball (20-0-1, 11 KOs) scored a split-decision victory over Raymond Ford in June in Riyadh to win the title in thrilling fashion. The win followed Ball’s first title challenge, a split-decision draw to Rey Vargas in March in Riyadh. Ball floored Vargas twice in that bout.
Ball, 27, is ESPN’s No. 5 featherweight. Rios (34-4, 17 KOs) is unranked. The 34-year-old from Southern California is coming off a fifth-round KO of Nicolas Polanco in April. Rios’ previous fight was a 12th-round TKO loss to Murodjon Akhmadaliev in a June 2022 challenge for two 122-pound titles.
Andrew Cain (11-1, 10 KOs) will fight in the co-feature; he, too, is from Liverpool. Cuba’s Jadier Herrera (14-0, 12 KOs) will appear on the undercard.