Stephen Fulton Is Nick Ball’s WBA Mandatory

WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball (21-0-1, 12 KOs) has a tough mandatory challenger, Stephen Fulton, who will be coming for him next after his grueling tenth-round knockout win on Saturday night against Ronny Rios (34-5, 17 KOs) at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

The former WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Fulton’s boxing skills will be a big problem for the 5’2″ Ball if that fight happens next because he’s got the kind of ability that the 27-year-old hasn’t seen before.

That was Ball’s first defense of his newly won WBA 126-lb title, but he may need to face his mandatory Fulton (22-1 8 KOs) next if the World Boxing Association orders the match. Ball said tonight that he wants to fight a unification next agakint one of the champions at 126, but we’ll see if the WBA will allow that.

Fulton lost to Naoya Inoue in July last year by an eighth-round knockout in Tokyo, Japan. It was too much firepower for Fulton at the time, and he fought too cautiously against the Japanese star in front of his fans at the Ariake Arena. Against Ball, Fulton would be able to deal with style a lot easier because he’s not a sharpshooter with Inoue’s speed and power.

#1 WBA Fulton looked spectacular last month, defeating Carlos Castro by a show-stealing 10-round split decision win on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga on September 14th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

If the WBA lets Ball swerve Fulton to fight one of the other champions at featherweight, a fight against WBO champion Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs) would be the logical one to make next.

“I’m always looking to take them out, no matter what. If I’m feeling the pace, then they’re going to be feeling the pace ten times worse. Keep going until the bell goes, until the fight is over,” said Nick Ball to Boxing Social.

“In boxing, it comes down to who wants it the most. When you’re in there, it’s just you and him. It’s who wants it most.”