Eddie Hearn wants Raymond Ford To Unify Against Nick Ball

Raymond Ford and Nick Ball are on collision course, according to Eddie Hearn.

The 24-year-old Ford transformed his reputation and career on Saturday in Verona, New York, where he won the WBA featherweight title by stopping Otabek Kholmatov with seven seconds remaining of the final round.

Ball, 27 and from Liverpool, has been presented with a similar opportunity on Friday evening in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when he challenges the WBC champion Rey Vargas, and, in the event of victory, could immediately be scheduled to fight Ford in a unification showdown – potentially on the Queensberry Promotions-Matchroom “Five Versus Five”.

“Ray Ford is ready to go against Nick Ball if he can win, and that will be a belter of a fight for the ‘Five Versus Five’,” Hearn told DAZN. 

“Before, we were talking about possibly making Nick Ball versus Josh Warrington or Mauricio Lara. Now it looks like Lara is moving up to super featherweight, and so is Warrington. 

“So with that victory last week [for Ford] it could be a straight-up unification. It’s a great fight. Nick Ball versus Ray Ford is a much better style match-up than a Rey Vargas fight.  

“It’s a fascinating fight where we can find ourselves two guys with a world championship within a week of each other, and within ten weeks of each other, they might be unifying against each other. 

“Vargas is awkward; he is rangy. But I love the fight, and Nick Ball has a great chance.”

Mexico’s Vargas, 33, lost his past fight – in February 2023 when he challenged O’Shaquie Foster for the vacant WBC super featherweight title – but remains undefeated at featherweight.

“[Vargas-Ball is] a great fight,” Hearn continued. “I actually made this fight with George Warren. I know Luis De Cubas, who manages [Vargas]. Nick Ball wanted a shot at the world title and got to the mandatory position with the WBC.

“It’s a fascinating fight. It really is. 

“I am a fan of Nick Ball, and I watched him against [Isaac] Dogboe. But Dogboe is a beaten fighter. 

“This guy [Vargas], apart from the inactivity, is one of the trickiest, awkwardest champions out there, pound for pound. He doesn’t look much if you were to look at him; I saw him on the running machine this week in the gym. 

“We brought him over to Hull many, many years ago – I think around 10 years ago – and he boxed Gavin McDonnell. McDonnell did quite well against him, and I never thought he would have gone on to do what he has done. 

“They are so confident, Luis De Cubas and his team, that he beats Nick Ball. They think he is going to school him [Ball]. There is a massive size discrepancy, not in weight but in stature, but Nick Ball is so fun to watch. 

“If he [Ball] can get on the inside and work away, this guy [Vargas] is very tight at the weight. He has been at featherweight for a long time and wants to move up to super featherweight if he can.

“If Frank Warren chooses featherweight [in the Five Versus Five] and picks Nick Ball, I could select Warrington, Lara or Ford.”