Few fighters can rival Nick Ball’s level of top level activity over the the past 13 months and it sounds like the WBA featherweight champion’s future is going to be played out in world class.

Ball, 21-0-1 (12 KOs), has been on a tear. The 27 year old started his run by beating former super bantamweight champion, Isaac Dogboe, last November. The win earned him a trip to Saudi Arabia and a place at the sport’s top table.

He appeared unfortunate to have to settle for a draw after a rough twelve rounds with WBC featherweight king, Rey Vargas, in his Riyadh debut but, less than three months later, Ball did become a world champion by unseating quality WBA champion, Ray Ford. In October, Ball returned home to Liverpool and made a successful defence of his title by stopping the gritty Ronny Rios.

Ball is having a well deserved break but will be back in Liverpool in March for a defence of his belt against Ireland’s former super bantamweight champion, TJ Doheny.

Ball is in Saudi Arabia to watch this weekend’s unified heavyweight title rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury but revealed that the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, Turki Alalshikh, wants to see him back out fighting next year.

“He said, ‘You’re wasting your time in Liverpool. We want you here in Saudi,’” Ball told Queensberry with a smile. “I’m ready when he is. I’m ready to fight here.

“He’s the man who’s took over and is making thing happen so it’s good that it’s coming from him and that he said it to me.”

Alalshikh’s teasing apart, the launch press conference for his fight with Doheny, 26-5 (20 KOs), will have left Ball in no doubt that he is in for a fight on March 15th. Doheny took offence at Ball’s suggestion that he quit during his seventh round stoppage loss to undisputed super bantamweight champion, Naoya Inoue, and promised to make him pay for his words. The normally detached Ball bit back in a bad tempered exchange.

“Some days you wake up in different moods. That day weren’t a good one so that’s maybe why,” he said but declined to give any hints about whether he will fight with the same anger he showed at the press conference.

“You’ll find out on the night.”