Lewis Ritson

Early career

Ritson made his professional boxing debut in April 2015 with a points win over Kristian Laight at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle.^[1] He went on to box a further six times throughout the remainder of the year, winning all six; two by knockout.^[1] Ritson won all five of his fights in 2016,^[1] culminating in him securing the BBBofC Northern Area lightweight title with a seventh round knockout win over Jordan Ellison on 3 December 2016.^[1] As a result of his early performances as a professional, Ritson received interest from promoters Eddie Hearn, Barry McGuigan and Frank Warren.^[4]

British lightweight champion

Having spent the first two years of his professional boxing career competing largely on small hall shows, Ritson fought live on Sky Sports for the first time on the undercard for Anthony Crolla–Ricky Burns at the Manchester Arena on 7 October 2017.^[5] He defeated Robbie Barrett by way of TKO in the seventh round having dropped Barrett on four separate occasions, in doing so winning the British lightweight title.^[5][6] Just three days after the fight, on 10 October 2017, he signed a promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing, with Ritson highlighting his next goal to successfully defend the title three times and consequently win it outright.^[5]

Ritson's first defence of his British title was pencilled in when he answered Joe Murray's challenge,^[7] with the pair headlining the Sky Sports NXTGEN bill in Manchester on 25 February 2018.^[8][9] Ritson won the bout courtesy of a "whirlwind stoppage victory" in the first round and afterwards discussed the possibility of fighting former British lightweight champion Scott Cardle, who was watching ringside.^[8] Cardle was subsequently named as Ritson's next opponent on the Dillian Whyte–Lucas Browne undercard at The O2 Arena on 24 March 2018.^[10] Ahead of the fight, Ritson stated "I've been on small hall shows in the past and now I'm headlining on Sky Sports and heading to The O2 on a big show – it's amazing and I'm working hard to make sure that this is just the beginning".^[11] Ritson successfully retained his British lightweight title with a second round stoppage victory over Cardle.^[12][13]

He was then matched to defend his British lightweight title against unbeaten Northern Irish boxer Paul Hyland Jnr, co-headlining the Sky Sports event at the Metro Radio Arena in his home city of Newcastle on 16 June 2018.^[14][15] Ritson won the fight courtesy of a first round stoppage having knocked Hyland Jnr down three times in the opening round.^[16] The win meant that he secured the British lightweight title outright.^[16] Four days after the fight, Ritson signed a new five-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing.^[17]

Matchroom Boxing announced that Ritson would headline a card at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle on 13 October 2018, where he would challenge for the European lightweight title.^[18][19] His opponent was revealed as former titleholder Francesco Patera on 28 August 2018, with the two competing for the vacant title.^[18] Before challenging for the European title, Ritson would first appear on the Amir Khan undercard at the Arena Birmingham on 8 September 2018, in an eight-round "warm-up fight" that was made in the hope Ritson would get some rounds under his belt having fought for a total of four rounds over the course of the previous year.^[20] Ritson knocked out Nicaraguan boxer Oscar Amador following a body shot at the beginning of round three of the bout.^[21]