Nick Ball retained his WBA featherweight title with an ugly win against TJ Doheny in Liverpool late on Saturday night.

Ball was made to work hard to break down Doheny’s resistance and it was a relief at ringside when the brave Australia-based Irishman was pulled out by his corner at the end of round ten. It looked like they had considered calling it off a round earlier; Doheny had nothing left but his guts at the end.

The first round finished with the pair in a nasty tangle and when Ball pulled his head free, he kicked Doheny lightly on the back of the leg; Doheny collapsed to the canvas as Ball was ushered away.

It set the tone for the fight. Ball, incidentally, was fortunate not to have lost a point, but belated screams for disqualification are way off the mark. Ball was in a headlock, he broke free, he tapped Doheny and then Doheny made a meal of it.

It was a very excitable fight and crowd, and the emotions were flowing all over the place. It was not vicious, just a bit of frustration and Doheny was not screaming “foul” at the end.

Doheny had his spoiling tactics just right, but Ball was not falling for traps, not rushing in. Doheny was convinced he could solve Ball’s aggressive style, but instead Ball picked his punches carefully and seldom rushed in and missed wildly. Doheny needed Ball to swing wildly, play to the crowd and get sucked in; Ball opted to box sensibly and that meant Doheny was on borrowed time from about round five.

In round nine, Ball did lose a point when he bundled Doheny over to the canvas. He had been warned about the rough stuff and it was an inevitable deduction, but it was not malicious. There had been a lot of wayward elbows, shoulders and heads flying throughout the fight. Both finished with marks from the fight and Doheny’s right eye was nearly closed.

Ball is now unbeaten in 23 fights, it was his second defence of the title and it was a smart win, a win where Ball had to use far more of his boxing brain. Doheny had done his bit before and during the fight to remind Ball that he lacked experience and would panic when things started to go wrong. Doheny is 38 and won the world title on the road way back in 2018, so he knew this was probably his last hope of winning another world title. Unfortunately for him, the old-man routine failed to impress Ball, and that is why Doheny was left with no other option and had to survive.

Doheny never stopped chirping away during the fight, talking in Ball’s ear and on the blindside of the referee. Ball blocked him out in style and slowly, methodically beat the fight out of Doheny. The win will not get added to Ball’s showreel of left and right-handed knockouts, but it was impressive.

“I just like to fight,” Ball said. “I had to show a few different things tonight, had to think a bit more.” The smarter Ball is a better Ball; too many in the boxing business seem to think that Ball can only fight one way and needs a willing body in front of him to look impressive. Doheny was a skilled and reluctant soul in the ring Saturday night and was slowly, bit by bit and rib by rib, broken apart by Ball’s persistence and patience.

Ball has been heavily linked with a fight against Naoya Inoue, probably in Saudi Arabia and probably in December. It is a bold fight, but one that Ball would find irresistible. Inoue is one of the very best fighters in the world, unbeaten 29 as a pro, a world champion in four weight divisions and happy to move to featherweight. Inoue is certainly not the first boxer to jump through the different weight divisions but he might just be the most impressive.

“I would take the Inoue fight in a second, obviously,” said Ball. “It’s a long way off, so let’s see what happens.” It is clear that Inoue against Ball has been placed on a list of dream fights by Turki Alalshikh and the group of men steering and running the Saudi boxing business – so far, fights on the list have been made. It would just be the latest fantasy fight to become a reality.

Inoue is still only 31 but during an 11-year reign of terror in world title fights, he has won titles at four weights, currently holds all the super-bantamweight belts and is unbeaten in 29 fights. So far, 26 men have failed to hear the final bell. However, there is always a limit to what a man can gain and still be effective; many multi-weight champions prefer to fight other men who have moved through the weights. In Ball, Inoue would find a man comfortable and incredibly strong at the weight – it could be a crucial factor.

Ball has a mandatory challenger on the WBA’s horizon and Inoue has a fight in Las Vegas in May, but those might just be tiny details in a much bigger plan to make a great fight happen. Ball showed against Doheny that he is ready.

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