On Saturday in Liverpool, England, Nick Ball defends his WBA featherweight world title against Ronny Rios at Echo Arena (ESPN+, 2 p.m. ET).

Ball (20-0-1, 11 KO) from Liverpool fought for the WBC featherweight title against Ray Vargas in March, but the fight ended in a draw. Three months later, on June 1, Ball defeated Raymond Ford by split decision to win the WBA belt. He will have his first defense against Rios.

Rios (34-4, 17 KO), of Compton, California, has fought for the junior featherweight title twice, losing both to Vargas in 2017 and Murodjon Akhmadaliev in 2022. He defeats Nicolas Polanco by KO in the fifth round. April.

Where can I watch the Ball vs. fight card? Rios?

Ball vs. fight card Rios will air Saturday on ESPN+ at 2 p.m. ET.

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How to broadcast fights?

The fights will be broadcast on mobile devices using the ESPN application.

Full Ball vs. Rios fight card:

• Title fight: Nick Ball vs. Ronny Rios, 12 rounds, for Ball’s WBA featherweight title

• Jack Rafferty vs. Henry Turner, 12 rounds, for the British junior welterweight title

• Jack Turner vs. Gonzalo Corinaldesi, 6 rounds, bantamweight

• Jadier Herrera vs. Oliver Flores, 10 rounds, lightweight

• Walter Fury vs. Dale Arrowsmith, 4 rounds, junior middleweight

• Andrew Cain vs. Lazaro Casseres, 12 rounds, bantamweight

• Joe Cooper vs. Łukasz Barabasz, 4 rounds, middleweight

Alimkhanuly stops Mikhailovich and defends his IBF middleweight title

Janibek Alimkhanuly defended his IBF middleweight title with a ninth-round TKO victory over Andrei Mikhailovich on Friday at The Star Sydney in Pyrmont, Australia.

The fight ended after Alimkhanuly landed two consecutive left uppercuts that caused Mikhailovich to stumble backwards, forcing referee Katsuhiko Nakamura to stop the fight at 2:45 minutes into the round.

Alimkhanuly hurt Mikhailovich with the same punch in round 2 and scored a knockdown at the bell, but Mikhailovich recovered. From there, it was only a matter of time before Alimkhanuly separated himself and struck frequently with his left hand under Mikhailovich’s pressure.

After the fight, Alimkhanuly said he would like to unify the titles with the other two champions.

“I have two titles and [other] two titles are missing,” Alimkhanuly said. “Each of them [Carlos] Adames or [Erislandy] Lara, I’m ready. Anytime and whenever, send me the paper. I will send it anytime.”

The fight was originally scheduled for July 13 in Las Vegas, but two days before that date, Alimkhanuly fainted while trying to gain weight and was taken to the hospital, where he was forced to withdraw due to severe dehydration.

Alimkhanuly (16-0, 11 KO), from Zhilanda, Kazakhstan but currently living and training in Oxnard, California, won the WBO middleweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Denzel Bentley in November 2022. He made one defense in May 2023. , a second-round KO of Steve Butler, before dropping Vincenzo Gualtieri in six rounds last October to add the IBF title. The WBO title was not at risk in the fight against Mikhailovich.

Mikhailovich (21-1, 13 KO) is a weighty puncher with long arms (74½ inches) from Auckland, Recent Zealand. He won seven of his last eight fights by stoppage before losing to Alimkhanuly.

Mikhailovich was born in Russia, but after being adopted, he and his brother moved to Recent Zealand.

Where can I watch a replay of the Alimkhanuly vs. fight? Mikhailovich?

Alimkhanuly vs. fight card replay Mikhailovich can be streamed on ESPN+.

Watch: Download the ESPN App | WatchESPN | TV

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Alimkhanuly vs. fight card results Mikhailovich:

• Title fight: Janibek Alimkhanuly defeated Andrei Mikhailovich by KO in the ninth round to defend his IBF middleweight title

• Mea Motu defeated Shannon O’Connell via TKO4 in a women’s featherweight bout

• Charlie Kazzi defeated Lui Magaiva via TKO7 in a lightweight fight

• Ahmed Reda defeated Joe Kara by TKO 2 in a lightweight fight

Top stories:

Jaron “Boots” Ennis says his inability to knock out Karen Chukhadzhian last year has nothing to do with what he did during their fight in Washington

Boots (32-0, 29 KO) blames it on himself because he entered the fight trying to score a knockout instead of having fun as usual. Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KO) took advantage of Ennis’ crazy swings that caused him to miss and took annoying shots that made him look bad.

IBF welterweight champion Ennis, 27, will have the opportunity to show fans he can knock out No. 1 Chukhadzhian in their rematch next month on November 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Chukhadzhian is on a three-fight winning streak to put himself in a must-see position to face Ennis again and will be keen to take advantage of that opportunity. Ennis believes that Chukhadzhian will try to play more aggressively this time as he didn’t win a single round last time, losing by scores of 120-108, 120-108 and 120-108.

This will be Ennis’ second fight at Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom and it must look good as the British promoter has had fans buzzing with him. Unfortunately, Ennis did not perform impressively in his first fight under Hearn’s wing, as he was hit strenuous by David Avanesyan on July 13. He won by knockout in the fifth round, but it was not a spectacular effort.

“It wasn’t him. It was me. My attitude was, “I’m going to knock him out.” You can’t go into a fight like that thinking you’re going to knock someone out,” said Jaron Ennis. Brian Mazique about what happened in his previous fight against Karen Chukhadzhian last year.

“I went from not having fun, and when I get back to having fun, it’s going to be another knockout. In the next fight I’m going to put on a show, not look for it. Just let me be myself. Don’t look for a knockout. “As you saw, when I got back to having fun in my last fight, there was a knockout,” Ennis said of his fight with David Avanesyan last July.

It would have worked better if Ennis had just admitted to Chukhadzhian that he made him look indigent instead of putting it on himself for fighting a bad fight. The way Ennis talks, it sounds like he’s just making excuses and doesn’t know how to admit that he lacks the talent to do the job.

“He won’t change his style. Could be a little more. In his last fight, he tried boxing, but he didn’t win the round. I feel like he’ll be more involved this time, but I feel like once he gets touched, he’ll be back on the bike,” Ennis said.

Chukhajian always fights on the defensive in every fight. Therefore, it is a stupid idea for Ennis to assume that he will fight aggressively against him in the rematch. What Chukhadzhian will probably do is steal some bullets and make Ennis look bad again. This would hurt his chances of fighting Terence Crawford.

“In the last fight, everything depended on me. It was me who did wrong, not him. He has been winning since we fought and has become a must-see fighter. So that’s what happened,” Ennis said.

He looked like the same Jaron Ennis as usual, but he was dealing with a player with impressive defensive skills on par with Shakur Stevenson. Against a defensive artist like Chukhadzihian, Ennis has to fight very differently because he won’t knock him out with a swing for the fence.

ANTHONY Yarde, one of British boxing’s forgotten men, returns to the ring on October 19 at the Copper Box Arena. The Hackney native was last seen beating up Marko Nikolic at the same venue in February. However, he has not faced a legal test since his hard-fought match against Artur Beterbiev in January 2023.

Rumors of a fight with Joshua Buatsi have been circulating for months, but nothing has happened yet. Now Yarde returns on Boxxer, supporting headliner Adam Azim-Ohara Davies. No opponent has yet been scheduled for the 33-year-old lithe heavyweight, who has a record of 25-3 (24 KOs).

Much of Yarde’s inaction stems from his desire to end his fruitful relationship with Frank Warren and try his luck elsewhere. With the likes of Buatsi, Craig Richards and Willy Hutchinson all in contention for the season in Riyad, that seems to be where the action is.

Currently ranked high in the WBO rankings (175), two of Yarde’s three losses came in good company as he was stopped by Sergei Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev. Lyndon Arthur suffered a points defeat in 2020, which Yarde avenged a year later by knockout. The Copper Box has become something of a spiritual home for Anthony, who has boxed there seven times as a professional.

Other boxers scheduled to appear at the October 19 event include Michael McKinson fighting for the IBO title, Dan Azeez, Jeamie Tshikeva in a good domestic heavyweight fight, Fran Hennessy and Shannon Courtenay.