Things proved pretty eventful at today’s official weigh-in between featherweights Nick Ball and TJ Doheny. Ball, who will defend his WBA featherweight title against former IBF super-bantamweight champ Doheny, made weight fine, the unbeaten warrior from Liverpool coming in at 125.9 pounds. Doheny, however, came in a little over, this by just an ounce.
(Credit: Queensberry)
Given an hour to drop the excess ounce, the 38-year-old Irishman did just that, but by then the two men had gotten into a shoving match and were separated by security. Ball, 21-0-1(12) seems certain he will get the stoppage win in his hometown, and as the decade younger man, who is at or is approaching his prime, and with the champion fighting at home, Ball does have a number of big advantages, and he is listed as a pretty big favourite by the bookies.
Also, southpaw Doheny is coming off a stoppage loss to Naoya Inoue, the back spasm Doheny suffered in that fight, leaving him unable to continue in the 7th round, back in September. Doheny, 26-5(20) is angry at the way the critics say he quit against “The Monster” and are not giving him much of a chance against Ball, who may well fight Inoue one day in the not too distant future.
“I don’t think Nick’s overlooking me, but it’s all these numpties in the boxing media who haven’t a clue about boxing,” Doheny said. “They’re all just excited about Inoue [fighting Ball in the future] and this and that. He’s not silly, he knows he’s got a hard night’s work ahead of him. I’m very confident in my boxing ability. I’ve got a massive bag of tools and I think I’ve got everything to neutralize The Wrecking Ball.”
Doheny can box, for sure, but against Ball, who is so fast, explosive and consistent with his attack, his stamina levels insane, tomorrow’s challenger faces the possibility of being overwhelmed and not permitted or allowed to use his tools, or to even get a foothold in the fight.
At the risk of being called a “numpty,” the prediction here is that Ball – who some good judges say is not only the most exciting fighter in the UK today, but also one of the best – dominates Doheny and gets the stoppage win some time during the first half of the fight. Ball really will take some beating, and the thinking here is Doheny, at this stage of his career, will not have enough to inflict a first loss on Ball’s record.
Both men are suitably fired up, though, and hopefully we will get a good, interesting fight in Liverpool.
