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Bruce ‘Shu Shu’ Carrington: Nick Ball ‘Pretty Promising’ In Terms Of Giving Me The [Title] Shot
NEWS
Keith Idec
Keith Idec
RingMagazine.com
Bruce ‘Shu Shu’ Carrington: Nick Ball ‘Pretty Promising’ In Terms Of Giving Me The [Title] Shot
LAS VEGAS – Bruce Carrington considers Nick Ball the feistiest of boxing’s four featherweight champions.

The undefeated contender who answers to “Shu Shu” therefore figures England’s Ball is the most likely of them to willingly grant Carrington his first world title shot. Carrington created a nickname for his potential opponent, too.

“Kickball,” Carrington told The Ring.

Brooklyn’s Carrington referred to Ball deliberately kneeing TJ Doheny from behind recently. Ball fouled the Irish southpaw after the bell sounded to end the first round of their fight for Ball’s WBA featherweight championship March 15 at Echo Arena in Ball’s hometown of Liverpool.

Ball (22-0-1, 13 KOs) fouled Doheny several times thereafter, until referee Michael Alexander finally deducted a point for flinging Doheny to the canvas for the second time during the ninth round. The 5-foot-2 Ball still stopped Doheny after the 10th round.

If Carrington (14-0, 8 KOs), the WBA’s No. 2 challenger for Ball’s belt, beats Mexico’s Enrique Vivas (23-3, 11 KOs) on the Mikaela Mayer-Sandy Ryan undercard Saturday night at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, he hopes Ball grants him his championship chance next.

“Nick Ball looks like a guy who doesn’t mind fighting whoever,” Carrington said. “He’s one of those dudes who gets down with the best of them. He likes to test himself and show how great he feels like he is. I feel like he’s one of them guys that’s pretty promising in terms of giving me the shot.”

Carrington, 27, is also the No. 1 contender for both WBC champ Stephen Fulton Jr. and WBO champ Rafael Espinoza.

Like Carrington, Mexico’s Espinoza (26-0, 22 KOs) is promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. Espinoza is already scheduled to defend his WBO belt against Edward Vazquez (17-2, 4 KOs), of Fort Worth, Texas, on the Naoya Inoue-Ramon Cardenas undercard May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Philadelphia’s Fulton (23-1, 8 KOs) alluded to fighting someone other than Carrington next after he beat Brandon Figueroa (25-2-1, 19 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-round rematch February 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I definitely hope that a title fight will be next for me,” Carrington said. “I just, you know, hope that these champions are willing to fight me. You know, I’m hearing some guys already making excuses, saying, ‘Oh, let him fight this guy first, let him fight that guy first.’ I did the work that I needed to do in order to be where I’m at. And the majority of the sanctioning bodies agree that I deserve to be where I’m at. So, I don’t feel like I need to prove to any fighter that I need to do anything more to get what I deserve, and that’s a title shot.”

Neither the WBC nor the WBO have named Carrington as a mandatory challenger for Fulton or Espinoza.

Carrington is also the IBF’s No. 4 contender for its champ, Angelo Leo. Albuquerque’s Leo (25-1, 12 KOs) is scheduled to defend his title against Japan’s Tomoki Kameda (42-4, 23 KOs) on May 24 in Osaka.

The Ring’s featherweight title is vacant. It ranks Leo at No. 1, Espinoza at No. 2, Ball at No. 3, Fulton at No. 4 and Carrington at No. 8 in the 126-pound division.

If he were to battle Ball, Carrington is certain he could handle the rugged champion’s questionable tactics.

“I have a lot of experience, man, in terms of the amateurs and that type of stuff,” Carrington said. “On top of that, growing up in New York, bro, there’s a lotta rough type of fighters. You know, you’re gonna get your little dirty sparring here and there. Especially coming up in the hood, man, like you’re gonna come up against stuff like that. That’s not foreign to me.

“So, I’ll have more than enough tools to get away from things like that or deal with it. If he wants to like go fire with fire with some things, I’ll do it right back to him. You know, but it’ll definitely be something just to keep him in check, just so I could do enough to get the victory.”

Carrington is a 14-1 favorite, according to DraftKings, to get a victory over Vivas. Their 10-rounder will conclude Mayer-Ryan undercard coverage on ESPN+, which will start at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT), before the action shifts to ESPN at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT).

Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.

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