LEWIS RITSON likes to fight. โItโs one of them where you can let out the inner demon a bit, just get stuck in. I donโt think any fighter truly likes getting hit on the end of their nose but itโs the sort of thing when youโre used to it and you donโt react to it, you enjoy it. Itโs a passion. Thatโs what Iโve got. And a little bit of the warrior comes out in the ring and I enjoy that,โ he tells Boxing News.
He expects Argentinaโs Jeremias Ponce to give him a real battle on Saturday (June 12) in Newcastle. โI think itโs going to be a hard fight,โ he said. โThere are going to times when weโre both going to have dig deep on Saturday night and itโs probably going to come down to who wants it more. Heโs in the same position as me. Heโs possibly one fight away from the big โun that every boxer wants when they turn over, to be a world champion. So thereโs going to be a lot riding on the line. Itโs going to be a rough, tough fight.โ
It is a final eliminator for the IBF super-lightweight title, one of the belts currently held by Josh Taylor. โHopefully, for my sake, he does go up and the belt is vacant because heโs a bit special,โ Ritson says with disarming honesty. โHeโs done it all now, hasnโt he, at this weight. Nothing left to prove, heโs got the four belts.โ
โBut who knows? He might want a big fight, get quite a bit of money. Iโm not going to say no to it, if itโs there,โ he continued. โThereโll be a lot of money involved so who knows? But I think Josh has got Terence Crawford firmly in his sights.
โHopefully get past Ponce and then fight for a vacant belt and hopefully we can get a defence at St. James’ Park. Thatโs all anyone asks us.
โHopefully it comes off.โ
Against Ponce Ritson needs the kind of performance that deserted him in his last fight again Miguel Vazquez behind-closed-doors in Peterborough last year. โWe got the plan completely wrong,โ Ritson said. โHeโs running away, I cannot catch him so should I wait for him, should I not wait for him? Stuck in Catch 22 really, didnโt really know what to do and that just led to me doing nothing really.
โYouโre sitting back stage kicking yourself really, thinking should have done this, should have done that, but too late.โ
He continued to speak frankly. โYou get the decision that really you shouldnโt have got, I got the rub of the green but then everyone knows you shouldnโt really be getting it,โ Lewis added. โItโs hard, so I took a bit time off social media. Just took myself away from it, youโve just got to keep plodding on.
โLooking at it now, I would have preferred the decision just to go to Vazquez. People are still going to call you because it was a terrible performance but then they were calling us for the performance and calling us for the resultโฆ It wasnโt my fault. Three of the judges judge the fight. Two of them had us winning.
โYou got all these people saying heโs a disgrace for not rematching Vazquez but what promoter would want to put that fight back on? None.โ
Ritson has a special connection with his fans. He felt their absence and the silence in the arena keenly last time out. โYou could hear like a pindrop really. I didnโt think it was going to affect me until I was actually there,โ he said. โIt was a terrible night for all the North East fighters, me, Tommy [Ward], Joe [Laws], the Bubble, lockdown, all played itโs part.โ
He does feed off the crowd and having 1000 supporters back on Saturday will make a difference, a difference that he could need. โHaving a thousand fans back will be great,โ Ritson said. โIt gives you that little bit extra.
โWeโre doing well. 11th fight on Sky for Matchroom. Iโve headlined quite a few now, fifth or sixth where Iโve been headlining. So Iโve not done too bad. Hopefully we just keep pushing on and pushing on.โ
He wants to keep progressing and he hopes to do that against Jeremias Ponce. But he also just wants to have a fight.