Prospect of the Month (May): Nick Ball
Sometimes the little guy can win, and there is no littler guy than 26-year-old Liverpool, England native Nick Ball scored a dominant 12th-round TKO of rugged and unbeaten prospect, Ludumo Lamati of Johannesburg, South Africa. The stocky 5'2 British Featherweight applied relentless press throughout the 12-round affair and finally got his man out of there to move his record to 18-0 (11), successfully defended HIS WBC silver strap, got the best and most important win of his career and takes home our Prospect of the Month award, making him the 3rd consecutive Brit to capture the award. He joins Jordan Flynn and Cyrus Pattinson, who won the Award the last two months.
In the evening's co-main event on the Louis Alberto Lopez VS Michael Conlan card at the SSE Arena in Belfast, non-stop pressure from hard-hitting little man Nick Ball proved to be worthy of the hype. The all-out relentlessness assault from the little man was far too much for an extremely tough Lamati. The South African was competitive in the early going, using his jab and reach to disrupt the pressure and timing of his 5'2 opponent. However, Ball's relentlessness would eventually break Lamati down. By the final round of the scheduled 12-rounder, Ball was fresh, and Lamati was in survival mode. A stiff left hand stunned Lamati, and the pint-sized Brit poured in the power shots as the towel was thrown in. Lamati appeared to be a beaten man but didn't seem to be in terrible shape, with just under a minute to go in the fight when the towel was thrown. However, Lamati collapsed in the corner and needed oxygen. He was taken to the hospital after the fight after a scary incident. It was touch and go for a while. Good news on that keeps pouting in and Lamati continues to improve and has been placed in controlled sedation
The featherweight division is a loaded division with a ton of intriguing fights for Ball on the Horizon. A fan favorite and a highly entertaining fighter with a high punch rate. A dream match-up with Brandon Figueroa should be the ultimate goal. However, the 5'2 pressure fighter is still a fight or two away from that level. In the interim, he could look at fighting other touted prospects like Edward Vazquez or Golden Boy's prospect Victor Morales or he could go the other route and look to battle a former world champ like Kiko Martinez. However, Martinez looked fairly shot. That may not be much of a challenge for the Brit. A win there should set up a possible showdown with one of Top Rank's top featherweight contenders like Joet Gonzalez or Isaac Dogboe. Ball is closing in on something big. His performance in Belfast should have fast-tracked him to a main-event type fight with a big name.
