Ball “I’ve Got The Power”
Rachel Ball wants her opponent to feel the power when she looks to put her training to the test on Friday.
Ball is targeting her first TKO as a professional when she returns to action in the Stadium Suite at the Banks’s Stadium, Walsall Football Club, on BCB Promotions’ Show on Friday July 20, and is determined to make a statement.
The 27-year-old featherweight has recorded three wins from three outings, all points victories, since switching sports from kickboxing.
Two of those came in the Stadium Suite, the other at Walsall Town Hall, with another hometown fight now on the horizon.
Ball has done the hard yards in camp and has been working on drills specifically designed to generate the sort of punch potency that could stop her contest early.
She’s still heavily involved at the Trojan Martial Arts Academy under the tutelage of chief instructor Gavin Burrows and her partner Todd Harrison.
Ball said: “I’m hungry and aching, at the moment, which are the signs of a good camp! I’m ginger and pale skinned, too, so the heat does get to me as well.
“I put everything into my training, I’m up at 4.30am for a run and, with work and an evening session, I’m often not back home until 8.45pm in the evening.
“It’s all worth it, though, and I wouldn’t get in the ring being any less fit than I normally am. I’m very serious about my career.
“We’ve done a few things differently this time, such as learning to plant my feet more so I can get the power into my punches that I need. That comes from good footwork.
“I’ve become physically stronger, too, and I’ve always been a strong girl since the kickboxing. I need to show that in boxing now.
“I’m always in the gym, I spend a lot of time at Trojan and I’m one of a few girls signed to BCB, so there’s lots of sparring for me with the likes of Dani Hodges and Kirstie Bavington.
“I’ve been up to spar again with Natasha Jonas (first female Brit to box at the Olympic Games) and that’s been a great experience. She’s strong as hell.
“I’ve been there before, so I must have been half decent to have been asked there. It’s been a learning curve, but I’ve held my own. That bodes well for me.”
Tickets, priced at £35 standard or £60 VIP with a hot fork buffet, are available by calling the Walsall FC Box Office on 01922 651 414, extension 416. It will be £40 for entry on the door.
The Grosvenor Casino Walsall, on Bentley Mill Way, are the show’s headline sponsors. They will host the weigh in and after-show party (over 18s).