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It could be argued that three of Nick Ball's most memorable performances of his professional career came within a four-match span.

The first of which is the only stain on an otherwise perfect record - his twelve-round thriller against Rey Vargas on the undercard of Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou.

Ball knocked the Mexican down twice - albeit the first of which was contreversial - but could not secure a victory in what was his first match outside of Britain.

Ball came back with a bang in his next fight, winning the WBA featherweight world title thanks to a split-decision victory against Raymond Ford.

Ball outclassed his Amercian opponent in the early rounds and got cuts on both eyes before Ford turned the tide in his favour in the second half of the fight.

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Then back in his hometown in March 2025, Nick Ball defended his WBA title for a second time when he forced TJ Doheny to retire in an incident-packed fight at home.

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Ah.

Good to have someone on the ground, Kal.

Kal Sajad
BBC Sport at M&S Bank Arena

I think Luke Littler has darted out of the building, by the way. He was here early in the night to support childhood friend, middleweight Luke Turner, who won his second pro fight.

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It has been some day for darts world champion Luke Littler.

The 19-year-old started it at the home of his beloved Manchester United. Littler walked out on to the pitch at Old Trafford with the trophy before watching the Red Devils beat Tottenham 2-0.

Littler is finishing the day in Liverpool and, as you can see below, has been on the edge of his seat watching the action unfold.

Image source, Queensberry

Image source, Getty Images

Chatter about a potential showdown between WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball and pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue has been rumbling on for some time.

Ball won the WBA strap in June 2024 and makes his fourth defence tonight - seemingly waiting for undisputed super-bantamweight Inoue to move up rather than chase unification opportunities.

Japan's Inoue, who has held titles in four weight classes and reigned undisputed in two of them, beat Alan David Picasso Romero in December and is yet to book his next fight, although a meeting with compatriot Junto Nakatani has been slated.

Ball - if he comes through tonight's test - has a big decision to make in the coming weeks. Bruce Carrington holds the WBC belt, Angelo Leo has the IBF title and Rafael Espinoza is the WBO champion.

Should Ball wait for 'The Monster' to move up to featherweight or go down the unification route?

Kal Sajad
BBC Sport at M&S Bank Arena

Sensational scenes on the undercard when Liverpool bantamweight Andrew Cain - in a final eliminator for the WBC title - was dropped twice in the eighth round with stinging body shots from Alejandro Jair Gonzalez.

Cain was, seemingly, done. With seconds left in the round, though, he survived.

Then, in the ninth, he came out like a man possessed.

With that fierce look in his eye, he floor the Mexican twice himself for the win, sending his home crowd wild.

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Hassan Ishaq continued his unbeaten start to his professional career with a stoppage win over Leonardo Baez.

The 22-year-old super-bantamweight from Slough was the subject of a great feature from Kal Sajad earlier this week. His team told BBC Sport all about the delicate matter of building a prospect.

Frank Warren, a promoter who has navigated the shark-infested waters of British boxing for 45 years, is guiding Ishaq's first steps in the paid ranks.

And in trainer Huzaifah Iqbal, he has a voice outside the ropes - a hype man, strategist and mentor rolled into one.

"Hassan's going to be pound-for-pound one of the world's best," says a beaming Iqbal.

Iqbal describes the transition from amateur to professional as a "delicate" stage, where careers are often made or broken.

"The first five or six fights are the real transition," he says. "The work Hassan does in the gym now - and with the sparring partners we bring in – is more important than later.

"As you get older, your muscles become cemented. It's harder to change."

• Read more about bulding a prospect

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We were expecting the main event fighters to start their ringwalk at around 22:15 GMT, but all the stoppages on the card mean we should get to see them in action a little earlier.

Jack Turner has just claimed a knock down right at the end of the first round, so this fight might not run much longer.

I'll keep you posted if we get any further updates on timings.

The co-main event is just about to get under way with Liverpool's Jack Turner looking to extend his perfect record to 14 wins against Juan Carlos Martinez Urbina.

It has been a night for stoppages so far with seven of the nine fights ending inside the distance.

Turner has only heard the final bell in 13 of his bouts. Has he got another knockout in the locker?

Image source, Queensberry

Image source, Getty Images

Boxing, unlike most other sports, is not run by a single worldwide governing body. There are sanctioning bodies, who control titles and rankings, with national and regional authorities like the British Boxing Board of Control trying to police the sport.

Frank Warren does not expect to see a Fifa equivalent in boxing but does feel the sport would benefit from a centralised database of boxer medicals and doping history.

"If there's one governing body, there'll be one ratings panel. There'll be one person or one committee saying who's fighting who, that's not right," Warren said.

"[But] what I'd like to see in the next 45 years is all the governing bodies working to get a combined database of all the medicals of all the boxers so everyone knows what's happening, because that is one of the big problems and [it relates to] drug taking.

"We need to make sure the medical records are accessible, people can't just sod off and go and fight in a different area, country or jurisdiction."

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Queensberry chief Frank Warren has already sealed his place in the boxing Hall of Fame, having completed 45 years as a licensed boxing promoter, and he isn't showing any signs of slowing down.

Warren is behind tonight's event as Nick Ball looks to make a successful fourth defence of his WBA featherweight title.

The 73-year-old put on his first licensed event in 1980 - promoting two American heavyweights at the Bloomsbury Crest Hotel in London.

He has gone on promote well over 200 world title fights and worked with some of the biggest names in the business.

Frank Bruno, Tyson Fury, Daniel Dubois, Derek Chisora, Nigel Benn, Joe Calzaghe, Amir Khan, Ricky Hatton, and ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed are just some of the fighters to have been managed by Warren.

With such a vast amount of experience under his belt, Warren spoke to BBC Sport about the challenges boxing faces over the coming years...

Kal Sajad
BBC Sport at M&S Bank Arena

Hello from the M&S Bank Arena.

A Nick ‘Wrecking’ Ball fight is rarely dull. The Liverpool man’s come-forward, all-action style almost guarantees drama.

And tonight he might just have the perfect dance partner. Brandon Figueroa is a volume puncher and very much not here to make up the numbers. He threw more than a 1000 punches in his previous fight.

Plenty of ringside voices I’ve spoken to reckon this could be trickier than Ball might expect. Strap in.

Image source, Queensberry

Combat sports fans are really being spoiled as we move onto our second live text of the night.

Welcome to those of you who are just joining us for boxing and hello again to any of you who were with us earlier for the PFL action.

Nick Ball is set to make the fourth defence of his WBA featherweight title against two-weight world champion Brendon Figueroa shortly.

If we're debating what kind of choke hold has been used to win this fight then something has gone seriously wrong.