Nick Ball mounted a strong second-half rally but fell short of securing his first major title. The unbeaten challenger managed to close a significant gap on the scorecards, narrowly avoiding his first career loss. Mexico’s Rey Vargas retained his WBC featherweight title through a twelve-round, split-decision draw Friday night at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, despite two knockdown calls against him.

Judge Massimo Barrovecchio (114-112) scored the fight for Vargas, while Jun Bae Lim (116-110) had a wide margin for Ball. Judge Rey Danseco (113-113) scored seven rounds for Vargas, but two knockdowns evened the score, resulting in the split draw.

Vargas, ranked No. 3 at 126 pounds by The Ring, had not fought in the division since his title win over Mark Magsayo in July 2022. His only fight in the interim was a loss to O’Shaquie Foster in a vacant WBC 130-pound title bout earlier this year.

Despite concerns over ring rust, Vargas started strong, leveraging his considerable height and reach advantage against the 5’2″ Ball, ranked No. 10 at 126. Ball pressed forward but found it difficult to land meaningful punches, leading to growing frustration. In the second round, Ball was warned for throwing Vargas to the canvas and received further verbal warnings for other fouls, though no points were deducted.

The fight took a dramatic turn in the latter half, with Vargas comfortably ahead on two scorecards until Ball’s power shots rocked him twice in round seven. Ball dropped Vargas just before the bell at the end of the eighth, though Vargas protested that he had been thrown. Ball did appear to fling Vargas with his left arm before landing a right hand and left hook, leading to a count from referee Giovanni Poggi.

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