Walkaway: Where does Nick Ball go if featherweight fails ambition once more?

Nick Ball battles to secure more than just another successful WBA featherweight title defence when he takes to the ring in his hometown tonight.

The Liverpool favourite, half-a-foot shorter than opponent Brandon Figueroa, will bid to retain his crown on familiar turf at the M&S Bank Arena.

With an unbeaten professional record that underscores his reputation as a tenacious bruiser, Ball has made no secret of his ambition for 2026.

A long-held dream to pursue unification success across the division has been mooted several times since he became champion in mid-2024.

The Ring

Bruce Carrington has expressed a desire to meet and in the United Kingdom no less - but if it falls apart, it marks another missed opportunity.

Ball will hope this is the year - but if not, what comes next? And might it involve a move to a new division entirely for the pursuit of two-weight glory?

A prospect at last

Eighteen months have elapsed since Ball dethroned Raymond Ford to earn his belt, hot on the back of his missed chance to edge Rey Vargas.

Since then, he has made three further defences, the most recent of which came against Sam Goodman, with the Australian stepping up a class.

Ball's compact frame has often proved the downfall of rangier, harder opponents, but the cold fact remains he is yet to book a unification dance.

News that Carrington, fresh from stopping Carlos Castro last month in New York City, is game for a bout will come as music to the star's ears.

Cris Esqueda/Matchroom Boxing

But at the same time, there will be hurdles - not least the contrasting politics of the sport's major governing bodies and their preferred options.

Neither Ball nor Carrington is ranked with the WBC or WBA respectively. A deal could be struck - but it would have to navigate several pitfalls first.

A waiting game played too long

If Carrington, or either of the division's other champions Angelo Leo and Rafael Espinoza, do not materialise however, Ball will be at an impasse.

Eighteen months of defences - four in all - is not something to be sniffed at by any fighter, but for a man of his ambition, it is a possible turning point.

Should he defeat Figueroa - a former two-weight world champion, and arguably the biggest scalp of his career - Ball should theoretically have clout.

Yet if all he can secure, in the best-case scenario, is a bout with WBA interim champion Mirco Cuello, then any possible unification will be well out.

Ball is still on the younger side, and has the body to bide his time in the division. But at the same time, working out lesser foes will not serve him well.

Bar Goodman, he has outclassed his opponents since becoming champion with something approaching a perverse ease. Could he atrophy if he stays?

Pound-for-pound greatness over the hill

Ball's fellow Merseyside favourite Andrew Cain has his eyes on a dance with Takuma Inoue if he comes through his WBC bantamweight eliminator tonight too.

Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing

But for the former, the lure of the bigger Japanese superstar still rings true heading into 2026 - the latter's brother Naoya, better known as 'The Monster'.

King of the super-bantamweight division, four pounds beneath Ball, the dream of a bout with the four-weight champion has long intrigued the Briton.

Yet Inoue has shown little interest in a move up at this stage, with a domestic dust-up against Junto Nakatani foremost in his mind for his next challenge.

Should he come through that though, Ball will surely give serious consideration to trimming the edges and stepping down to meet Inoue on his own terms.

Alternatively, the star might decide to add four more and move to super-featherweight, where fellow Liverpool man Jazza Dickens holds the WBA strap.

Either way, 2026 is poised to be the most dramatic year of Ball's career so far - and for now, he remains firmly in control of his own destiny, wherever it goes.

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