Nick Ball vs Naoya Inoue

Ball was hurt from the body work Rios gave him, and he visibly slowed down, Rios looked like he broke his nose.

This was against a longer fighter who constantly kept leaning forward and coming into the pocket against the smaller Nick Ball

It's no surprise he had troubles in his previous fight against an opponent with a better jab and distance control than Rios. Rios showed great conditioning and great body work, that's how he kept himself in there until he found himself exhausted against the ropes.

I definitely rate Nick Ball, he's a solid come forward pressure fighter, but he has limited counter punching ability, and he's not defensively sound, those stance switches to keep pressure sure look nice, the angles and shot selection is also good, but he works in bursts, he will struggle against a good boxer who breaks his rhythm. And when he starts dropping that lead hand... if you got the jab and the 1-2 he's there to be hit all night, with no counter punching threat, and all these defensive holes I don't see him troubling Inoue

 

Would be a great fight, i would be backing Ball and i believe he’s got what it takes to win.

 

Inoue UD with a knockdown along the way

 

Tough fight for Inoue for sure, Ball is a machine and brings the pressure but Inoue is a more polished fighter. I can see Inoue breaking Ball down to the body and stopping him around 9 rounds.

 

Yes I think Ball is a breath of fresh air for not just British boxing, but the whole sport. A terrific wee fighter. Long may he continue but history suggests fighters with his style tend to have less longevity.

Inoue will catch Ball flush at times, which is not a good mix. It's a scrap we would all love to see. However, being sensible here, surely Inoue takes this with a stoppage victory mid to late rounds.

 

Nick Ball is a SFW, he's not even really a FW, I already personally thinks that Inoue would be at diminishing returns were he to go to FW, and someone who's a crowding swinger with an engine is always bad for someone moving up, and Inoue has moved up how many times...............I think he may have reached his size limit.

 

If Inoue gets past MJ and looks good winning we should see this fight next. Hopefully they still make it happen for December.

 

I think Inoue stops Ball and I don't think it would be much of a contest.

 

After the Ball / Goodman fight tonight, I think Inoue does Ball on bodywork and making him pay for ragged defence.

But I don't think that was the best Ball tonight, though I give a lot of credit for that to Goodman to be fair.

 

Both Ball and Goodman would be KOed by inoue, however I venture to say that Inoue would get the job done quicker on Ball. If Goodman wasn't so Feather fisted I believe he may have gotten Ball out of there inside the distance tonight. Wide margins on two judges scorecards was absolute bull****. One judge only got closer to the mark giving Ball the edge which I don't dispute In all a close fight.

 

After Ball/Goodman my opinion stays the same, would be a fun fight while it lasts but have to still favour Inoue. His speed, his counters can get to Ball.

But people shouldn't look too much in how Ball looked against Goodman. Styles makes fights and Goodman was able to prevent Ball from coming forward by taking away his forward momentum and rough house tactics. On the inside ball usually dominates by using his lower centre of gravity and getting his head in his opponents throat to walk them back to the ropes where he wants them but Goodman reversed that and used underarm hooks to stand Ball up so he could drive his head into the shorter Ball's throat and wall him back to the ropes. This happened every time they clinched and there's no guarantee Inoue will do the same.

But Inoue's footwork could be the thing that gives Ball serious problems. If Inoue can keep the fight in the centre with his movement, beat Ball to the punch and counter Balls rushes with his lethal counters it could be a really tough night for Ball.