Keith Thurman scored his first knockout in over 9 years on Wednesday morning. Thursday in the AM, hardcores witnessed a dramatic 12th round stoppage in the fight of the year between Kenshiro Teraji and Seigo Yuri Akui. This busy week of boxing continues through the weekend. My preview and predictions article will cover Nick Ball against TJ Doheny and Willams vs. Volny both events are on Saturday. A few undercard bouts will be mentioned as well like Andrew Cain vs. Charlie Edwards.
Nick Ball faces a solid veteran boxer in TJ Doheny headlining a card on BT Sport in the UK/Ireland/Northern Ireland and DAZN for the rest of the world. Ball is coming off a TKO victory over Ronny Rios. Back in late 2023, Ball got his biggest victory of his career at the time over Isaac Dogboe. Nick followed it up by fighting to a draw with Rey Vargas. Last June, Nick Ball and Raymond Ford engaged in a spirited scrap with a debatable final result. His opponent on Saturday is TJ Doheny and this boxing podcaster wonders how much of a fight will he put up.
Doheny has faced a litany of names such as Naoya Inoue, Daniel Roman, Michael Conlan, and Ryosuke Iwasa. However, TJ is 5-5 in his last 10 outings. Apart from being able to box on the outside and sporting a good chin, how much of chance do you give him to pull off the upset? Many of the betting sites have Doheny sitting around a +700 all the way up to +850, so by all means if you believe in TJ put some money on him.
Ball’s style will get him hit early with clean shots but it won’t take all that long for Nick to overwhelm his Doheny with pressure. An active work-rate landing hard punches to the head and body as Nick works his way on the inside will be too much for TJ. Yes, there is a chance that Nick Ball’s main focus is on his next fight. During fight week we heard Ball call out the top featherweights in the world. Barring a distracted Ball we should see him take over this fight after a handful of rounds.
My Official Prediction is Nick Ball by late TKO.
PODCAST LINK: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rope-a-dope-radio-podcast/id1794655742?i=1000698944685
On DAZN this Saturday night a 60-40/55-45 matchup in the main event should remain highly competitive throughout. Austin aka Ammo Williams takes on Patrice Volny in Florida at the Caribe Royale Orlando. Volny’s sole loss came back in 2020 to Esquiva Falcao via technical split-decision. Volny’s cut came from a clash of heads but one could’ve score it a draw after 6 rounds. Since then, Patrice’s best victories came over Steven Butler and DeAndre Ware both by late TKO/KO.
Williams only loss came in a lackluster performance in an 11th round TKO by the hands of Hamzah Sheeraz. Given Sheeraz’s latest poor showing that loss didn’t age all the well. Ammo is 28 while Patrice is 35 and that alone may end up being the deciding factor in the late rounds. We could leave this bout scoring the fight for Patrice Volny ever so slightly. With that said this boxing junkie is leaning towards Ammo getting the nod by a slim margin.
My Official Predictions is Austin Williams by Majority Decision.
Side Note: Also keep an eye out for undercard bouts including Andrew Cain vs. Charlie Edwards and Brad Strand vs. Inout Baluta. Edgar Berlanga returns and Omari Jones makes his pro debut on DAZN as well. One more worth mentioning on Friday, Bryce Mills vs. Alex Martin is evenly matched on a DAZN card.
Written by Chris Carlson Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker, I-Heart Radio, Amazon Podcasts, Google Podcasts & More! Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio
