Tonight’s Live Results: Ball Vs. Doheny From Liverpool

Nick Ball will be making his second defense of his WBA featherweight belt tonight against contender TJ Doheny in the 12-round main event at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England. The event will be shown live on DAZN beginning at 2:30 ET.

(Credit: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions)

Undercards results

– British and Commonwealth bantamweight champion Andrew Cain (14-1, 12 KOs) defeated former WBC World flyweight champion Charlie Edwards (20-2, 7 KOs) by a 12 round split decision to win the vacant WBC Silver 118-lb title.

The scores

115-114 – Cain
115-113 – Edwards
116-112 – Cain

Edwards was on the move through most of the fight, running around the ring, and failing to engage. Cain showed his frustration constantly by holding his arms out, trying to encourage Edwards to stand and fight.

In the 11th and 12th, Edwards finally left his hands go, and looked good. For him, it was too late. If he fought like that throughout the contest, he would have easily won because he had the hand speed and skills advantage. He’ll regret not fighting harder earlier.

– WBA Intercontinental lightweight contender Herrera cores (17-0, 15 KOs) wore down and stopped a tougher than expected Jose Macias Enriquez (8 KOs) by a seventh round technical knockout. It was a good stoppage by the referee because Enriguez was helplessly covering up against the ropes, getting bombed with heavy ordinance by Herrera. If the ref hadn’t halted the fight, Enriquez would have gone down.

Herrera, 22, bloodied Enriquez’s left eye, and pounded him with heavy power shots in the seventh round, resulting in referee John Lathan halting the fight. Jadier had Enriguez hurt in rounds two and three, but was unable to finish him due to him being too wild with his shots.

Enriquez stopped fighting after the sixth round due to his cut eye, and he looked like he didn’t want to fight. The official time of the stoppage was 2:31 of the seventh. Herrera showed a lot of power in the fight, but his defense was nonexistent. On the downside, Jadier got hit a lot and made it a much tougher contest than it should have been by slugging too much. When Herrera focused on boxing in the fourth, he looked great.

However, his corner wanted him to trade more. So, he went back to slugging in the fifth. The heavy shots that Herrera hit Enriquez with in the fifth and sixth took all the fight out of him. He had nothing left and was a punching bag for Herrera in the seventh. In terms of Jadier’s power in the fight, he was A+, but his defense and accuracy were in the D-range. Still, the shots that Herrera landed in the fight would be difficult for any fighter in the lightweight division to take. He punches VERY hard and he’s clearly one of the strongest fighters in the division.

– Ionut Baluta (17-5-1, 3 KOs) outhustled the crowd favorite Brad Strand (12-2, 4 KOs) to win a ten-round split decision to capture the WBO European super bantamweight title. Baluta dropped Strand with a shot in the ninth round. The replay showed that Ionut had stepped on Strand’s lead foot when he dropped him, but the knockdown wasn’t reversed. The scores were 97-93 for Strand, 98-91 and 96-94 for Baluta. Boxing News 24 scored it for Baluta 6-4.

Strand did too much holding and moving for him to win the fight. That’s why he lost. Baluta was outworking him the entire fight and putting in much more effort.

DAZN Main Card at 2:30 pm ET

Nick Ball vs. TJ Doheny
Andrew Cain vs. Charlie Edwards
Brad Strand vs. Ionut Baluta
Jack Turner vs. Ryan Farrag
Herrera core vs. Jose Macias

An Odd Bird Matchup

Ball-Doheny is a peculiar match-up involving the unbeaten Ball (21-0-1, 12 KOs) facing an older guy coming off a knockout loss.

Fans have ridiculed the decision to use the 38-year-old Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs), but the promoters for this event are counting on the older fans wanting to see the matchup for nostalgia. You can only go so far in trying to lure fans by selecting old veterans.

It doesn’t work forever without causing fans to lose interest, and it also does nothing to develop the younger fighters.

They remember TJ years ago, when he was still winning and putting on impressive performances. In hindsight, Ball should have overridden his management’s decision and insisted that Bruce Carrington be his opponent.

In the chief support bout, British and Commonwealth bantamweight champion Andrew Cain (13-1, 12 KOs) faces Charlie Edwards (20-1, 7 KOs) in a 12-round bout.

Herrera cores: Power Puncher

Easily the best fighter on tonight’s undercard is Cuban lightweight contender Jadier Herrera (16-0, 14 KOs), who possesses one-punch power, and is like a mini Julian Jackson. Herrera, 22, is the most exciting fighter in this event, including the headliner Nick Ball, and the only one on the card destined to win a world title.

WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson dodged Jadier Herrera in favor of the light puncher Josh Padley last month on the Riyadh Season card on February 22nd. That was the highest form of compliment.