Ritson Welcomes Fans Back To The North-East In Clash With Ponce
Forest Hall super lightweight Lewis Ritson (21-1 KO 15) will be relishing having his adoring fanbase back this weekend when he faces unbeaten Argentinian prospect Jeremias Ponce (27-0 KO 17) at the Vertu Motors arena in Newcastle live on Sky Sports and Dazn.
The Sandman will be looking to make a statement against his South American foe after a controversial win over seasoned Mexican Miguel Vazquez last time out in October. Ritson looked flat that night and was lucky to escape Peterborough with the split decision victory. But, with fans back in the arena Ritson will be looking to get back to his blistering best against an intriguing unbeaten opponent.
Not much has been seen of Ponce by the majority of British fight fans. The 24-year-old fighter has only fought outside of his native Argentina twice in his twenty-seven fights with his last win coming over Jonathan Jose Eniz (25-13-1). With no standout names on his record, many will be expecting Ritson to get the job done, perhaps in comfortable fashion.
Ritson failed to convince against Vazquez last time out and cannot afford another slip up on his road to a potential world title clash at 140lbs. Ritsons lone defeat came in an unsuccessful European title tilt down at Lightweight to Francisco Patera back in 2018. Since then, Ritson has thrown together a run of four consecutive wins, including a very good points win over Robbie Davies Jr. With this fight being a final eliminator for the IBF world title Ritson simply has to be on top form.
With fans finally being allowed back to boxing events expect Ritson to return to form. The 27-year-old is one of the best supported fighters in British boxing today and with his toon crowd cheering him on he should feed off of the energy from the 1000 fans in attendance.
Another interesting element going into the fight is Ritsons decision to leave trainer Neil Fannan and begin training back in Forest Hall with his father Davy, the first time since the defeat to Patera. The move is interesting because Fannan picked Ritson up after the disappointment of the European title defeat and led him to four wins from four and the number two spot in the World with the WBA. Ritson insists he’s happier to be closer to his family and his two young girls. The old saying goes a happy fighter is a dangerous fighter.
Also, on the card this Saturday unbeaten County Durham Bantamweight Thomas Patrick Ward (29-0-1 KO 4) returns to action as he faces off against Mexican Edy Valencia Mercado (17-5-6 KO 5). Ward will want to get back to winning ways after the first blip on his record came last time out in a drawing effort against Thomas Essomba.
Big ticket seller Joe Laws (9-1 KO 5) returns in a Welterweight contest against Nestor Maradiaga (9-10-2 KO 5). Laws is fighting for the first time since his stoppage loss to Rylan Charlton on the last Ritson bill in October.
Super Bantamweight Ellie Scotney (2-0 KO 0) looks to continue her young pro career against Spaniard Vanesa Caballero (4-9-3 KO 0), Welterweight April Hunter (3-0 KO 0) squares off with Klaudia Vigh (3-27-1 KO 2), Alen ‘The Savage’ Babic (6-0 KO 6) returns from his shoulder injury to face an opponent yet to be named, Heavyweight Solomon Dacres (1-0 KO 0) aims to improve to 2-0 in a contest against Alvaro Terrero (5-11-2 KO 3) and former team GB standout Cyrus Pattison makes his pro debut against Yoncho Markov (4-2 KO 2).