Nick Ball stops Ronny Rios to retain featherweight title

Nick Ball dropped Ronny Rios three times en route to a successful title defense.

Nick Ball successfully defended his WBA featherweight title today in Liverpool, dropping Ronny Rios three times en route to a 10th round TKO victory.

Ball (21-0-1, 12 KO) continued his breakout year in 2024 by putting Rios down in the third and seventh rounds, then again for the last time in round 10, where Rios (34-5, 17 KO) actually fell through the ropes to the apron, but did come back into the ring before his corner waved the towel.

It was a true warrior effort from Rios, 34, who hadn’t fought at this level in over two years and has had just one fight at all in that timeframe. But the 27-year-old Ball was, as always, simply relentless, and was able to break down Rios, with Rios unable to do enough damage to deter the defending titleholder, despite bloodying Ball and landing plenty of his own shots.