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This is obviously all my opinion dressed up so it sounds fancy if you can't be bothered to read it just go watch him in some fun British Title level fights.
Lewis Ritson: Rise Of The Sandman
“Lewis Ritson can FIGHT mate” the words of promoter Eddie Hearn sum up the latest (and quickest to win it outright) owner of a lord Lonsdale Belt pretty well.
British Lightweight Champion outright at 24 years of age and within 8 months of first winning the belt, Ritson (16-0 10KO) has seemingly come out of nowhere for most. I must confess that i had never heard of him before the Robbie Barrett (16-3-1 1KO) fight i had no idea who he was going in as he challenged Barrett for the British 9 stone 9 belt. By 15 seconds into round number 2 it was “why have i not heard of this guy” as he sent Barrett crashing to the canvas for the first of several Knockdowns before stopping the brave Yorkshireman in the 7th.
‘Farmer’ Joe Murray (23-3 10KO) was cut in half with a body shot and finished on his feet in February of this year and Scotty Cardle (22-2-1 7KO) came out like a house on fire only to have the towel fly in from his corner in the 2nd just a month later. At the time of writing Ritson has just DESTROYED his mandatory challenger Paul Hyland Jr. Now (18-1 7KO). Inside of a round in Ritsons’ native Newcastle.
His Pressure Will Sicken Most Of Them
A relentless come forward fighter Ritson will march opponent’s down behind an excellent high guard using his size strength and pressure to break his man down. This aggressive approach stands whether the opponent is Southpaw or Orthodox and has lead to some cracking fights as Ritson starts coming forward pretty much from the first bell and the opponent is instantly forced to start fighting just to keep the ‘Geordie Golovkin’ off of them.
To hear his coaches tell it Ritson, who also had somewhere in the region of 95 amateur fights and fought at Welterweight as a senior, has gone from “Physically strong but not a puncher to hurting kids even in sparring”. This maybe due to reuniting with his Father Davey as head coach as he had 5 stoppages in 12 fights under a different coach and has now stopped 5 opponents in a row.
A ramrod jab forms the base of all Ritsons’ attacks. He may look a slugger to the casual fan who prefers the unorthodox flashy moves of fellow North East star Josh Kelly but Ritson is fundamentally excellent. The jab accompanies little short steps into range to unleash his power punches and it is in short vicious combinations where Ritson really shines. He seems to pick each shot one at a time before quickly moving onto the next and has a good variety of punches especially during mid range exchanges. Part of why he is so effective is that he keeps his combinations short and simple, right hand to the body into left hook to the head or left hook into right uppercut normally bunches of two or three but at a high rate so the opponent never has time to breathe. Ritson will also do some things that Boxing wise are quite unorthodox on the offense he will throw the right hand and have his feet almost square and then throw another right hand almost as a jab before shifting his feet into a left hook, see this in the Robbie Barrett fight, as Barrett is a southpaw the right hand can stab straight through the middle of his guard so long as Ritsons’ lead foot is on the outside of Barrets’.
Due to Ritsons’ tight guard he can catch shots on his forearms and immediately whip the left hook back at the opponent as he knows exactly where he will be see the barnburner first round with Scotty Cardle for several examples of this. This can also work by catching the opponents’ left hook on your right forearm and hammering your own left hook into his midriff as he turns himself onto the punch see the first knockdown against Joe Murray for a Brutal example of this. The high guard also means that before opponents can clinch Ritson they meet his forearms and elbows and Ritson is able to ‘Frame’ off the opponent with the lead hand and punch with his right either with the uppercut which he will occasionally double up or with the right hand over the top of the opponents left shoulder, see the Hyland Jr. fight for a great example of this.
I Can Box A Bit Too
Boxing skill is supposed to be about hitting the other guy and not getting hit cleanly in return and Ritson accomplishes this very well (although he does get hit clean) due to his excellent high guard. His hands are never far from the full double forearms ‘shell’ and this is obvious to see. This style of defense while it does mean not getting hit clean you still absorb a lot of force from a punch and we have not seen Ritson in with a real genuine puncher at British title level. The underappreciated part of Ritsons’ defense is the little ‘Bob’ from his knees and the half steps back out of range which means his man just misses and Ritson can come back with a shot on the counter without having given the opponent space and time to get his breath back. This pressure actually helps Ritsons’ defense as it is very difficult to punch hard when you are having to move backwards quickly with a teak tough Geordie who just won’t go away marching you down throwing big punches.
He looks well beyond this level
I don’t know how far Lewis Ritson will go as we haven’t seen him against a legitimate puncher or at above British title level but in the words of Matt Macklin “He’s destroying these guys who are British title level” so i can't wait to watch as he moves on, supposedly his next fight will be for the European title and we can watch where he goes from there.
Now obviously this piece is purely my opinion dressed up a bit so that it sounds a bit more fancy but if you take one thing away from this make sure it’s a reminder to go and watch some Lewis Ritson and enjoy some great British title fights!
Lewis Ritson: Rise Of The Sandman
“Lewis Ritson can FIGHT mate” the words of promoter Eddie Hearn sum up the latest (and quickest to win it outright) owner of a lord Lonsdale Belt pretty well.
British Lightweight Champion outright at 24 years of age and within 8 months of first winning the belt, Ritson (16-0 10KO) has seemingly come out of nowhere for most. I must confess that i had never heard of him before the Robbie Barrett (16-3-1 1KO) fight i had no idea who he was going in as he challenged Barrett for the British 9 stone 9 belt. By 15 seconds into round number 2 it was “why have i not heard of this guy” as he sent Barrett crashing to the canvas for the first of several Knockdowns before stopping the brave Yorkshireman in the 7th.
‘Farmer’ Joe Murray (23-3 10KO) was cut in half with a body shot and finished on his feet in February of this year and Scotty Cardle (22-2-1 7KO) came out like a house on fire only to have the towel fly in from his corner in the 2nd just a month later. At the time of writing Ritson has just DESTROYED his mandatory challenger Paul Hyland Jr. Now (18-1 7KO). Inside of a round in Ritsons’ native Newcastle.
His Pressure Will Sicken Most Of Them
A relentless come forward fighter Ritson will march opponent’s down behind an excellent high guard using his size strength and pressure to break his man down. This aggressive approach stands whether the opponent is Southpaw or Orthodox and has lead to some cracking fights as Ritson starts coming forward pretty much from the first bell and the opponent is instantly forced to start fighting just to keep the ‘Geordie Golovkin’ off of them.
To hear his coaches tell it Ritson, who also had somewhere in the region of 95 amateur fights and fought at Welterweight as a senior, has gone from “Physically strong but not a puncher to hurting kids even in sparring”. This maybe due to reuniting with his Father Davey as head coach as he had 5 stoppages in 12 fights under a different coach and has now stopped 5 opponents in a row.
A ramrod jab forms the base of all Ritsons’ attacks. He may look a slugger to the casual fan who prefers the unorthodox flashy moves of fellow North East star Josh Kelly but Ritson is fundamentally excellent. The jab accompanies little short steps into range to unleash his power punches and it is in short vicious combinations where Ritson really shines. He seems to pick each shot one at a time before quickly moving onto the next and has a good variety of punches especially during mid range exchanges. Part of why he is so effective is that he keeps his combinations short and simple, right hand to the body into left hook to the head or left hook into right uppercut normally bunches of two or three but at a high rate so the opponent never has time to breathe. Ritson will also do some things that Boxing wise are quite unorthodox on the offense he will throw the right hand and have his feet almost square and then throw another right hand almost as a jab before shifting his feet into a left hook, see this in the Robbie Barrett fight, as Barrett is a southpaw the right hand can stab straight through the middle of his guard so long as Ritsons’ lead foot is on the outside of Barrets’.
Due to Ritsons’ tight guard he can catch shots on his forearms and immediately whip the left hook back at the opponent as he knows exactly where he will be see the barnburner first round with Scotty Cardle for several examples of this. This can also work by catching the opponents’ left hook on your right forearm and hammering your own left hook into his midriff as he turns himself onto the punch see the first knockdown against Joe Murray for a Brutal example of this. The high guard also means that before opponents can clinch Ritson they meet his forearms and elbows and Ritson is able to ‘Frame’ off the opponent with the lead hand and punch with his right either with the uppercut which he will occasionally double up or with the right hand over the top of the opponents left shoulder, see the Hyland Jr. fight for a great example of this.
I Can Box A Bit Too
Boxing skill is supposed to be about hitting the other guy and not getting hit cleanly in return and Ritson accomplishes this very well (although he does get hit clean) due to his excellent high guard. His hands are never far from the full double forearms ‘shell’ and this is obvious to see. This style of defense while it does mean not getting hit clean you still absorb a lot of force from a punch and we have not seen Ritson in with a real genuine puncher at British title level. The underappreciated part of Ritsons’ defense is the little ‘Bob’ from his knees and the half steps back out of range which means his man just misses and Ritson can come back with a shot on the counter without having given the opponent space and time to get his breath back. This pressure actually helps Ritsons’ defense as it is very difficult to punch hard when you are having to move backwards quickly with a teak tough Geordie who just won’t go away marching you down throwing big punches.
He looks well beyond this level
I don’t know how far Lewis Ritson will go as we haven’t seen him against a legitimate puncher or at above British title level but in the words of Matt Macklin “He’s destroying these guys who are British title level” so i can't wait to watch as he moves on, supposedly his next fight will be for the European title and we can watch where he goes from there.
Now obviously this piece is purely my opinion dressed up a bit so that it sounds a bit more fancy but if you take one thing away from this make sure it’s a reminder to go and watch some Lewis Ritson and enjoy some great British title fights!
