World Championship Boxing - Nick Ball v Ronny Rios

The WBA World featherweight champion Nick Ball will make a first defence of his title in a Liverpool homecoming fight on Saturday 5 October at the M&S Bank Arena.

The last two fights for the 27-year-old have taken place in Saudi Arabia as part of Riyadh Season, where in June, Ball (20-0-1, 11 KOs) was selected as part of the Queensberry team that took on Matchroom at the Kingdom Arena in the 5 vs 5 event and he successfully took the WBA title from then champion Ray Ford in a career-best performance.

Now back fighting back on home turf and fighting for the first time at the arena, Ball will face the experienced American, Ronny Rios (34-4, 17 KOs), who is coming off of a fifth-round KO victory back in April.