When you have blasted out FOUR British title foes out in under 12 rounds, it is not easy to gauge what Lewis Ritson means by the expression “long haul”.
Five rounds?
The hard-hitting hero of the Toon Army is the red-hot favourite to land the European lightweight title on Saturday night when many judges believe he will be the first man to stop Francesco Patera.
It is going to be one helluva confrontation in front of what is almost certain to be a capacity crowd at the Metro Radio Arena. There are just handfuls of tickets left, so if you want to go, don’t delay.
Patera has told punch-lines this week on how he will use his “brain” to be the first man to beat the Newcastle KO king.
Ritson never talks about stoppages and having had the privilege of watching him train at Neil Fannan’s Hartlepool gym he looks good to go the distance, should he be required.
“We’re expecting to be in for the long haul on the night, that’s what we’ve trained for,” explained ‘The Sandman’.
“We’ll be ready for everything on the night.
“Me and the team think we can [stop him].
“We don’t think it’s going to be like the rest of them, he’s going to take me into the later part of the fight, but I think I’ve got the tools to take him out.”
There is talk already of some sort of super fight at St James’s Park in the summer of 2019.
While his manager Phil Jeffries will tell you that he’s already boxed at a big stadium, Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, speculation about boxing at Ritson’s beloved St James’s Park is more than wishful thinking.
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” said Ritson.
It is his dream but he has the wise counsel of Fannan, Jeffries and dad Davy in his corner and listening to Lewis you get the feeling the 25-year-old is keeping his feet on the ground.
“We’ll see how I perform at this level,” he said. “We’ll see if we can get rid of Patera, if we can get rid of him then we’ll know we’re not that far off World level.
“We’ll see how far I can go, with a city like Newcastle behind me the sky is the limit.”
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Lawrence Lustig/ Matchroom
