Boxing
Nick Ball unfazed by Figueroa’s 1,000-punch fight
The WBA featherweight champion dismissed repeated references to Figueroa exceeding 1,000 punches in this fight, saying that number only exists where it is allowed. Ball’s opinion is uncomplicated. The outcome depends on what the opponent allows, and he doesn’t plan on giving Figueroa the same spot as Gonzalez.
Ball treated the stats as specific to this fight. In his opinion, that says more about Joet Gonzalez’s night than anything that automatically translates into the next one. He made it clear that he did not want to borrow lessons from another opponent’s experience.
According to Ball, the problem is not how many punches he throws, but how often he responds to them. He has built his title run on engaging players who engage and make them work every time they step forward. His comments suggest he expects to break the momentum rather than adapt it. For Ball’s part, counting only matters if nothing comes back.
This perspective says a lot about how Ball views the fight itself. It doesn’t talk about casting spells or regulating your pace to get through periods of pressure. It talks about control. Raw totals aside, Ball makes it clear that he intends to influence where trades take place and how long they last, rather than conforming to a pattern set by someone else.
Brandon Figueroa comes at it from a different angle. He relied on preparation and confidence in his approach, pointing to past nights when he was able to work steadily without being forced off his line. These performances relied on his opponents absorbing the pressure without making him pay for it. Ball made it clear that he had no intention of playing that role.
The exchange goes beyond routine self-confidence. Ball doesn’t discount Figueroa as a threat. He rejects the idea that recent punch counts in themselves have authority. In doing so, he moved the discussion away from accumulation and toward resistance, timing, and response.
Saturday will determine whether Figueroa can impose the type of fight his recent numbers suggest, or whether Ball’s faith in shortening this pattern will prove successful. Until then, Ball’s position is clear. What happened against someone else remains there, and he has no interest in becoming a continuation of it.
Nick Ball will defend his WBA featherweight title against Brandon Figueroa on Saturday, February 7 at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. DAZN will broadcast the fight live worldwide, starting at 19:00 GMT (14:00 ET).
Jai Opetai’s fight against Brandon Glanton is still moving forward, but veteran reporter Dan Rafael says the issue that caused the IBF title to be removed from the fight had to do with how the belt was presented during fight week. Rafael reported that IBF president Daryl Peoples believes that the organization’s title was shown as secondary to Zuffa’s belt during a recent press conference.
This explanation makes the argument about the presentation rather than the match itself. Rafael wrote that Peoples objected to the way the belts were arranged at the press, with Zuffa’s belt posed for the cameras while Opetaia held the IBF title rather than raising it in the usual manner towards the audience.
“The IBF withdrew sanctions and sent the overseer home after the journalist because IBF President Daryl Peoples felt disrespected by the belt being placed secondary to Zuffa’s,” Rafael wrote on social media.
Fight week photos reflect the arrangement Rafael described. At the final press conference on Friday, Zuffa’s belt was centered and Opetaia held the red IBF title at his side. Saturday’s weigh-in had a similar effect. Zuffa’s belt was raised over the fighters on the restart, while Opetaia continued to hold the IBF Championship on his chest. This sequence appears to have irritated the sanctioning authority.
Rafael also reported another unusual detail related to the fight. Even after the IBF dropped its sanctions, Opetai and Glanton were still expected to adhere to IBF weight rules ahead of the morning fight. Rafael said that no competitor can weigh more than ten pounds over the cruiserweight weight limit of 200.
Rafael later noticed that the IBF belt continued to appear in promotion for the event. Opetaia held the title at media events and discussed it publicly, and graphics broadcast by Zuffa covered the championship. Rafael’s account points to the dispute that raged over Zuffa’s title belt relationship during press events.
Opetaia entered fight week as the IBF cruiserweight champion after regaining the belt in a rematch victory over Mairis Briedis in 2024. The Australian continues to wear the physical belt while promoting his fight against Glanton. Once he steps into the ring and takes part in an unsanctioned fight, the IBF Championship will no longer move forward with him.
The fight remains scheduled, and reports from Rafael indicate that the split was due to belt politics and presentations at public events. The episode shows how rigorously sanctioning bodies guard the status of their championships as modern promoters introduce competitive titles.
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