Ball vs Doheny official for Mar. 15 in Liverpool

Nick Ball’s first fight of 2025 will pit him against former super bantamweight titlist TJ Doheny

After a breakout 2024 saw him capture and defend the WBA featherweight title, Nick Ball’s first bout of 2025 will see him battle former super bantamweight champ TJ Doheny in a March 25th Queensbury main event at Liverpool’s Echo Arena.

Ball (21-0-1, 12 KO) fell just short in a March title fight against Rey Vargas, losing the first half of the fight before dominating the second half to force a draw, then narrowly edged out Raymond Ford for the WBA belt in a barnburner three months later. Shortly thereafter, capped things off with a three-knockdown TKO finish of Ronny Rios to snap a three-fight finish drought.

Doheny (26-5, 20 KO) will, as has become a frustrating trend of late, enter his latest title fight on the heels of a loss. He turned in a solid effort against Naoya Inoue in September, but ultimately bowed out in the seventh after Inoue hit him so hard to the body that it damaged his back. While he’s tricky and durable enough to give the very straightforward Ball pause, he’s also 38 and a career super bantamweight.

In other action, British and Commonwealth bantamweight champ Andrew Cain (13-1, 12 KO) will defend his belts against Charlie Edwards (20-1, 7 KO), who turned down a final eliminator against Jose Salas after Samson Boxing won the purse bid with a laughable $25k offer. Brad Strand (12-1, 4 KO) also returns to the ring against spoiler extraordinaire Ionut Baluta (16-5-1, 3 KO).