Nick Ball has been fighting to become a world champion for about 20 years, but now must work even harder to defend his WBA title and unify the featherweight division.

The 28-year-old is preparing to face mandatory challenger Brandon Figueroa on February 7, headlining the Queensberry Promotions event in his hometown of Liverpool.

This is Ball’s fourth defense of the WBA title, having previously defeated Sam Goodman, TJ Dorney and Ronnie Rios. The coronation moment against Raymond Ford June 2024.

Unlike previous years, Ball may have had the odd scrape, but now he has to compete in consecutive world-class matches.

However, this is exactly the lifestyle the tenacious Scouser has always envisioned for himself, knowing that greater success often leads to increased workload and vice versa.

talk with boxing news and other media outlets, Ball expressed the satisfaction he gets from competing at the highest level of the sport.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way. I like it the hard way because then you earn it – no one can take it away from you.

“I always knew I was going to be world champion; it was just a matter of time.

“Now I’m defending it (the WBA title) and there are other belts that can come into the division – big unification fights; big fights that all the fans are talking about.”

Indeed, the “big unification fight” remains firmly on Ball’s radar, although his next opponent certainly won’t come around to make up the numbers.

Their fight was aptly named “The Hard Assignment,” with Figueroa standing at 5-foot-9 and the defending champion hitting the measuring stick at around 5-foot-2, maybe 5-foot-3 if he had a trainer.

Of course, this is by no means unfamiliar territory for Ball, who had a career-best performance in 2023 against 5-foot-10 Ray Vargas.

Unfortunately, the judges seemed to overlook his mostly effective work to the body, which was actually two knockdowns, Won a tie to win the WBC world title.

But even so, Ball proved against Vargas that he tends to have more success against taller opponents, such as Figueroa, whose style and physical size could provide ideal preparation for a potential unification clash with WBO world champion Rafael Espinoza.

“Yeah, it did (prepare me for Espinosa), didn’t it? Like you said, they have similar size. This Figueroa, he stepped up – and so did Espinosa.

“So they have similarities, but every fight is different. I’ve always liked fighting taller guys. I like being underestimated and being underdog – it brings out the best in me – so that’s OK.”

While Ball is no stranger to facing taller opponents, Espinosa happens to be a towering featherweight champion with a height advantage of nearly a foot.

As a result, this may be the most intriguing 126-pound boxing matchup, not only because of the staggering height difference, but also because many consider Ball and Espinoza to be two of the best fighters in their division.

First, the focus next Saturday remains on Figueroa.