Nick Ball retained his position as Great Britain's only male world champion, keeping hold of his WBA featherweight title in an enthralling 12-round clash against Sam Goodman at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Liverpool's Ball won unanimously with scorecards which read 117-111, 118-110, 115-113 on a card headlined by Moses Itauma-Dillian Whyte live on DAZN PPV.

Ball will now look to unification fights at 126 pounds, but a potential clash with pound-for-pound superstar Naoya Inoue also lingers.

"I'm still a world champ but it wasn't the best performance of mine, the main thing is we got the job done," Ball said in the ring afterwards. "I got hit too much, most of it was on the gloves but I'll have to watch it back.

"I want to keep fighting and improving, being in with the big names in other title fights is the main thing."

Goodman (20-1, 8 KOs) made a solid start to life at featherweight, landing a nice right hand on Ball (23-0-1, 13 KOs) in the opening seconds of the bout. But by the time the first round had finished, it was Ball who looked to be in the early ascendancy, landing numerous damaging right hooks and straight lefts.

Again the challenger looked comfortable enough for periods in the second round. The Aussie used his reach advantage to position himself well on the outside, landing jabs of his own. But Ball, who stands at just 5ft 2in, made things awkward and found home with right hands.

The third round saw Ball land, arguably, the best shot of the fight - a right hook to the temple. Goodman responded with a left to the body of his own and continued to use his length, trapping Ball into falling over his feet whenever he attacked with any kind of explosiveness. Goodman ended the round by connecting with a well-timed one-two.

Ball looked twitchy to begin the fourth. Naturally eager to land effective shots of his own, he came straight out of the traps, winging punches from all angles. While Goodman remained calm and collected, Ball got through with a couple of hard jabs for the first time in the fight. Goodman returned fire with another tidy one-two but Ball came back with a hard left of his own.

Ball enjoyed his best round of the fight in the fifth. The Liverpudlian landed a blistering combo to back Goodman up onto the ropes before doing the same in the middle of the ring moments later. Goodman returned to form, boxing from range and looking to stifle Ball's attacks with neat footwork and the jab.

The sixth round began strongly for Ball again. Safe in the knowledge he'd have better success with combinations, Ball came out targeting both the head and the body. Goodman came back and connected with a meaty left to the body but Ball got through up top in return, landing a thunderous one-two against the challenger's unguarded head.

Goodman used his back-foot ability to fend off much of Ball's attacks in the seventh, landing to the body and head, but Ball would land a head-snapping left hand in the final minute of the round.

Ball's aggression came to the forefront at the start of the eighth. The 28-year-old marauded forward, looking to catch his man off guard with shots from awkward angles, landing many of them. Goodman, unhurt by those shots, once again returned to his base to win the middle portion of the round with effective body punching and jabbing. The rounds were becoming closer and closer.

The ninth was a strong one for champion Ball, who landed three big uppercuts to put Goodman onto his back foot. The first was with his right and the second two came from Ball's left. Goodman would attempt to get his own back by pushing Ball back himself, attempting to land the jabs and right hands he'd come accustomed to landing in the preceding rounds.

The trend of Ball starting his rounds well before coming under fire from Goodman continued in the 10th. Ball landed a big left uppercut-straight right in the opening minute but Goodman came back with a hefty right of his own. Ball, though, landed a brilliant right to the head before connecting to the body with his left straight after.

The contest ebbed and flowed once again in the 11th, but Ball looked like he was beginning to pull away by the time the 10th round finished. In the penultimate round, he landed yet more uppercuts and rights but Goodman continued to soak up the punishment and returned fire, something Ball opponents have struggled to do in recent years.

The 12th round saw both men go for broke. Goodman knew he needed to finish strong to have any chance on the cards while Ball wanted to rubber-stamp the solid work he'd done in the two previous rounds with something a little more spiteful. Both landed punches in bunches, to the head and body, and Ball's right eye would begin to bleed as a result. But the pair would end the fight on their feet after an enthralling 36 minutes of action.

Ball would ultimately come up trumps with the unanimous decision win, however Goodman, who missed out on world title opportunities with Naoya Inoue at the end of 2024 and the start of 2025, stamped his authority as a handy player in the 126-pound division.