Nick Ball defends his featherweight title against Ronny Rios today in Liverpool.

Scott Christ is the managing editor of Bad Left Hook and has been covering boxing for SB Nation since 2006.

We’ve got another world title fight set today, as Nick Ball returns at home in Liverpool to defend his WBA featherweight title against Ronny Rios.

The fights will stream live starting from 2 pm ET on ESPN+ in the United States, and will also air on TNT Sports in the United Kingdom.

Ball (20-0-1, 11 KO) has had a breakout sort of year, fighting Rey Vargas to a scrappy draw in a WBC title fight in March, then turning around less than three months later to take the WBA title from Raymond Ford in another very close bout, both held in Riyadh.

This will be Ball’s first fight at home since Feb. 2020, when he was fighting at Grand Central Hall, a far cry from headlining M&S Bank Arena. He’ll face the challenge from American veteran Rios (34-4, 17 KO), who has had an up-and-down career and at 34, it’s pretty much make-or-break time as far as his chances to win a world title. Rios has moved back up to featherweight this year after losing a 122 lb title fight to Murodjon Akhmadaliev in 2022, followed by nearly two years of inactivity.

The bizarre first game ’96 ALCS demands a deep rewind

There was a lot going on for the Yankees and Orioles in 1996. Making the ALCS was just one layer. You slice into the decadent cake that was the ’96 Yankees-Oriole rivalry and you’re gonna see off-season battles, spit flying, and a young yankee fan who does not respect vertical planes. Both teams were rich and before the season they went after the same talent, like David Cone (Yanks), and David Wells (O’s). The Davids, I like to call them. The next layer of the cake would probably be Roberto Alomar spitting on an umpire and then implying the ump’s dead child made him bad at his job. That’s a think layer. A bitter layer for the O’s was the Jeffery Maier incident. That’s the young Yankee fan who interfered and made himself a friend of Derek Jeter for life. And it was Bernie Williams, once nicknamed “Zero,” but now on the precipice of a breakout season who had the opportunity to add a layer so sweet it would overshadow the rest of the cake. Let’s rewind.

Also of note on the bill:

Henry Turner (13-0, 5 KO) and Jack Rafferty (23-0, 14 KO) will bring their “0s” to the ring, with Rafferty’s Commonwealth title at 140 as well as the vacant British title both on the line.
22-year-old Cuban lightweight Jadier Herrera (15-0, 13 KO) will be in a 10-round fight against Oliver Flores (31-5-2, 20 KO) of Nicaragua, a 33-year-old who has been a pro for nearly 18 years now, and maybe had a peak in career notoriety back in 2015-17, when he lost to Takashi Uchiyama and Felix Verdejo back-to-back. In fact, Flores was the last W of Uchiyama’s career.

We’ve got the post up for you to chat in the comments, and the team will be in-and-out prior to the main event.