Ball stop Rios to retain WBA world title in triumphant homecoming

Nick Ball retained his WBA featherweight title in his first defence against veteran challenger Ronny Rios with a dominant 10th round stoppage. After a one-sided action-packed fight, Ball made a triumphant return in his hometown of Liverpool at the M&S Bank Arena. Rios was fighting for a world title for the third time after previous losses to Rey Vargas and Murodjon Akhmadaliev. 

Ball started the fight by throwing and landing at will despite sustaining an apparent broken nose early in the fight. Rios was dropped heavily in the third, when Ball unleashed a barrage of punches. Rios had his best round of the fight in the fifth round, landing with success to the head and body. Unfortunately for Rios this was short-lived when Ball took control, dropping Rios for a second time in the eighth round. Ball asserted his dominance in the ninth going through the gears. Ball finished the fight in the tenth round knocking Rios through the ropes, which led to the corner throwing in the towel. 

After the fight, Ball said "I'm wanting to unify the featherweight titles", whilst backstage, Rios mentioned he was contemplating retirement after his damaging defeat. 

On the undercard event, in a terrific British title fight, Jack Rafferty added the British light welterweight title to his Commonwealth belt, defeating the valiant Henry Turner, coming from behind on two judge's scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Turner's corner waved the fight off at the end of the eighth round after being heavily dropped early in the round. 

Andrew Cain, the British and Commonwealth bantamweight champion, Nick Ball's stablemate, produced the performance of his career against late replacement Lazaro Casseres. Cain, who won in convincingly in the second round, proved he had too much class and was levels above his opponent. In the aftermath, he stated that he would love to challenge for the world title.