Lewis Ritson believes his British title confrontation with Scott Cardle WILL happen – but is focused on his maiden defence against Joe Murray.
The British lightweight champion has a tough voluntary assignment this Sunday against Murray in Joe’s backyard in Manchester, the showdown topping Eddie Hearn’s JD NXTGEN event at the Victoria Warehouse.
This belter of a bout replaced Ritson-Cardle after the former champ withdrew.
“I was supposed to be fighting on the Tony Bellew-David Haye card in December but that got called off,” said the Newcastle star, who is managed by Phil Jeffries and trained by dad, Dave.
“Then we got a call to say it was going to be February 25 against Cardle. But then no announcement came.
“Fights do fall through. If I get past Murray then I guess a fight with Cardle will happen down the line.”
And Ritson is keen to stress he is NOT taking his eye off the ball this Sunday, he told punch-lines how highly he rates the 31-year-old, who operates under the moniker ‘Genius’ and has won his last eight contests half of the at the Victoria Warehouse venue.
“Murray’s very good,” said the ‘Sandman’, who has tuned up for the Maychroom show by sparring with Glenn Foot.
“I’ve seen a lot of experts rate this as a tougher fight than Cardle. He’s good and while his record may not say it, he can hit a bit.
“The thing about Joe is you never know what he’s going to do, I’m not sure he knows!
“That’s what we are a bit worried about.
“Is he going to come forward, is he going to dance? Or hold? He likes to hold on? We wonder what his plan will be, but we’ll soon find out on the night.”
Words: Roy Kelly
