By Louis Evans
WHEN sawn-off Scouse featherweight Nick Ball steps inside the ring for his debut โworld titleโ challenge in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on March 8, he will do so oblivious to the wares of defending champion and veteran Mexican warlord Rey Vargas.
Preened by Paul Stevenson at the upwardly mobile Everton Red Triangle (ERT) gym in his native Merseyside, Ball routinely shuns any revision of prospective opponents, content to focus fully on his own munitions.
โIโve seen just three rounds [of Vargas]โ, confesses the 5ft 2ins former tradesman who has plastered all 19 pro adversaries thus far. โItโs all I can manage before I start getting bored. I donโt know what to expect. Any prediction would be a false answer; you never know until you step through the ropes. Whatever way I want it to go, thatโs how itโll go. Iโm here to take that belt!
โPaulโs only concerned with what we can do. Itโs up to us to better ourselves each day and let them worry about us! He [Stevenson] will figure out how our style can exploit them. Itโs all focused on us and how we can force the action.
โNo gameplans. We train to hurt.โ
As an appetiser to Anthony Joshuaโs big-money showdown with Francis Ngannou, the lively Liverpudlian will concede natural size and reach against the gangly but explosive 5ft 8ins Vargas, who has lost just once in a 14-year, 37-fight career. However, the Aztecan hasnโt defended his WBC 126lbs title since a July 2022 split win over Mark Magsayo and enters the Ball bout following a failed super-featherweight title bid against Texan OโShaquie Foster. Boasting 22 early victories, the 33-year-old still presents a daunting proposition to baby-faced Ball.
That said, Ballโs catalogue wins against towering opponents – including a breakout sixth-round scalping of former Commonwealth champ Isaac Lowe on the Fury-Whyte Wembley Stadium prelims โ has coach Stevenson unnerved by the challenge ahead. Sharp-witted Stevenson typically oversees the intel, allowing his pupils to focus exclusively on perfecting their own performance.
โI wouldnโt call it โcontrolโ because everyoneโs got a job to do. The fighterโs job is to be in top shape and intelligent; the manager and the trainer find the right opponents and develop a strategy,โ explains Stevenson, who previously moulded Jazza Dickens, Kevin Satchell and Ryan Farrag into champions.
โAfter training all these years, Iโve learned that you donโt know [what threat opponents will bring in the ring]. Youโve got to be ready for anything.
โA lot of boxers drive themselves mad watching tapes of their opponents. They can get it wrong and give the other fella too much respect because heโs knocking everyone out. Or theyโve seen him in tough fights and think it will be easy โ thatโs the real danger. They [the Everton Red Triangle stable] can leave the worrying to me and focus on training.
โSure, this fella is tough, but Nick never struggles with the height advantage. Heโs been that way since heโs been a kid. His punch volume is particularly high; he never stops.
โThe Foster fight was a difficult one; he [Vargas] was always in it and tried a lot of different things to stay in the fight. He had a good go, but heโs gone up in weight, and the other fella [Foster] was strong and good. He came up short, but he didnโt box badly. I liked what I seen from him. In the fight before [against Mark Magsayo], again, it was a good contest. Vargas uses his height well, but he can also fight like many Mexicans can.โ
This elevation to the world stage marks a lifetimeโs commitment from Ball. Underwhelmed by the โnine to fiveโ regime in his late teens, this natural scrapper deserted his fatherโs plastering trade to enter the pro ranks, fuelled by some well-placed faith from Stevenson. Together, over the ensuing seven years, the pair refined one of the most daring styles in contemporary British boxing, fully characterised by Ballโs high-octane dominant decision win over proven world-grade Isaac Dogboe on Queensburyโs โMagnificent Sevenโ show last November. His suffocating work rate and heavy hands have combined to eliminate 11 of his 19 victims before the judgesโ cards were required.
In a gym presently bursting with talent among the lighter weights โ including brothers Joe and Peter McGrail, Brand Strand and Andrew Cain โ Ball leads the charge in what could prove a โgolden eraโ for the long-established gym.
His pathway to prominence has not been without its potholes.
He explains: โI was kicked out of Maghull High [School, Liverpool] in year nine for fighting. I didnโt have an ego. I was just a hundred miles an hour and couldnโt sit still. I always had to be doing something, and school wasnโt really for me. I tend to do what I want, to be honest. At the time, it got me into a bit of bother. Brad [Strand, ERT super bantamweight contender and Ballโs childhood friend] could have a go, but he’s the level-headed one out of the two of us. Heโs the smarter one, too. Iโd get kicked out of the class, but Brad would swerve the blame and stay in [laughs].
Ball turned his aptitude for aggro into something more positive and entered the Muay Thai fold. Then, in a brief amateur stint in the singlet of Kirkby ABC, he scooped Junior ABA and Tri-Nations titles before jacking for four years.
โI remember Paul warning, โThe pro gameโs not for everyone; itโs not what it seems.โ But I knew I was ready. I give it 150 per cent in everything I do. Iโve never looked back; it was the best decision I couldโve made,โ insists the chatty but frighteningly focused hitman.
โPaul is the best coach out there, in my opinion. Heโs the best coach for me; he brings the best out of me. [In training] itโs the little things. They build up until it all comes together, and then you get the payoff. You donโt see it in the gym every day; itโs only when you look back and see how far youโve come.
โWhen I first came to Everton Red Triangle, I could always fight โnโ that. Iโve been able to fight my whole life, but Paulโs turned me into a boxer. I can out-jab people who are six foot! And when I need to, I can turn it on and have a scrap. Heโs sharpened my defence and everything. Thereโs no one thing; itโs lots of little bits.โ
The platitudes are two-fold.
โNickโs Nick โ heโs his own character. But in the gym, heโs what I want; heโs all business. He learns fast; heโs explosive; heโs brave. Heโs probably one of the most disciplined people youโll ever meet,โ admires Stevenson.
โHe lives and breathes what he does, and it shows. Iโve got a great stable of fighters of all different types, but, in training, Nick leaves them standing. Iโve never seen anything like it before, and Iโve been training fighters for 25 years. Iโve never seen the levels of energy, the recovery. He comes back after a competitive fight, and after ten seconds, heโs breathing like heโs sat down watching the telly.โ
It wasnโt always smooth sailing for the pair. Despite some impressive physical attributes, it took time for scholar of the squared circle Stevenson to unearth the compact Ballโs power quotient. And, following an analysis of a long lineage of undersized greats past and present, the wise old owl likens Ball to a miniature Mike Tyson or Baltimore bad boy Gervonta Davis.
โI just knew I could do something with that style,โ asserts Stevenson. โI was instantly impressed with the energy and the strength of him. As he developed, there were certain turning points where I began to think we were on to something. He hadnโt boxed since he was 15, and adjusting to the pros took a little while. Around his sixth fight, he got his first stoppage. Thatโs when you started to see his confidence and ability change. I knew we were getting somewhere then.
Featherweights are built very differently these days. Nick has a throwback physique, which has been quite normal throughout history. I know these 5โ9โ to 6-foot featherweights are common modern-day, but they were quite rare back in the day. They were built like Nick – strong and built for long fights throughout boxing history.
Nick calls them [tall fighters] โskinny bastardsโ that heโs going to snap in half [laughs]! Itโs funny the way he talks about them.โ
To fully garnish his obvious power and productivity, Ball adopts modern trends to strengthen his edge inside the ring further. Located just across from the ERT HQ, ‘Peak Performance Liverpool’ supervises the S&C that Kirkby contender’s superior conditioning, with an emphasis on ‘fight specific’ Cross Fit workouts.
โIts [influence is] massive. Iโve been at it for seven years now with my S&C coach, Tom Christian, and I wouldnโt go into a fight without doing it now. Iโm confident in it,โ enthuses Ball.
โAll my workouts are fight-specific; itโs all dead serious. Itโs next-level training. In [typical] strength training, you can do your whole workout without being out of breath. In here [Peak Performance Liverpool], it all crosses over; youโre doing the weights while out of breath. And thatโs exactly how itโs going to be in the fight. Youโve gotta be able to move your opponent while youโre fatigued. CrossFit covers everything.
โItโs not too intensive on the joints, but on the body, it depends on how intense you wanna make it. We always put 100 per cent in. Youโre sore the next day, but as a professional fighter, youโve gotta be tough. Youโve gotta get up the next day and go again; youโve gotta push through.
โIโm lucky. I know a lot of people hate it, but I love to train. Itโs therapy to me. When Iโm training, Iโm not thinking about anything. In life and in boxing, Iโve put the work in to be a world champion. You get out what you put in, and now Iโve got my chance. This routine has gotten me to this level, so why would I change now? You think because Iโve got a world title shot means I have to change things? Nah. Keep doing what Iโve been doing with the same people around me.โ
Body battle-hardened, he can now transfix his eyes on the Saudi showdown. Time now to repay those whoโve invested belief in him.
โIโd be Paulโs first โworld championโ out of the gym,โ he concludes.
โHeโs trained so many fighters over the years. As a coach, to get your first world champion, itโs pretty big. Nobody ever sees all the work he puts in every day with us. He doesnโt get the recognition he deserves; heโs very underrated. But people who know boxing know heโs one of the best coaches out there. If not, the best.
โIf you canโt outwork me, donโt expect to beat me. I understand that anything can happen in boxing – youโre only ever one shot away from a loss โ but in 365 days of the year, you wonโt outwork me on those days. So donโt expect to get one over on me on a Saturday night.โ