Winning a title in your first fight in a new division against an opponent made of iron should be a cause of celebration.
And for Lewis Ritson, his team of Neil Fannan, Phil Jeffries, Imran Naeem and Davy Ritson plus his fans, his victory over Argentina’s German Argentino Benitez was just that after clinching the WBA Inter-continental light-welterweight belt in London via a unanimous decision.
There has been criticism on social media today of the scoring – the English and Polish judges marked it 98-92 and the Italian 99-91 – plus Ritson’s performance.
Some even called for the 25-year-old to sack trainer Neil Fannan, who now coaches ‘The Sandman’ full time after previously sharing the duties with Davy Ritson.
But Lewis insists important jobs take time and is confident of getting “better and better” at 10 stones with the Hartlepool fight figure.
“When I first went to train full-time at Fanno’s he said it will take up to a year for everything to come together and I’ve only been there a few months,” he told punch-lines.
“Taking Neil on as my coach is about finding those extra few per cent I need.
“If I’d have taken out someone in one or two rounds what would I have learned?
“I still probably offered myself too much (to fight) and got frustrated at times, but I did do stuff Fanno had been working on.
“That’s the first camp and fight I’ve had while I’ve been in Hartlepool, I’m enjoying working with Fanno and I’m just looking forward to getting better and better.”
Benitez had ‘hard case’ stamped all over him as he proved over 10 very watchable rounds at the Copper Box Arena.
On several occasions he looked ready to wilt, but the 27-year-old toughed it out to the end and landed a number of good shots on the Geordie along the way.
But the former British champion was pleased with his night’s work – and new belt.
“It was just what we needed really for our first fight at light-welter,” he explained.
“We don’t want opponents we can take out, we want fights that we can take the stuff we’ve been working on in the gym into.
“You saw a bit of that, little step backs, head movement, and other stuff.
“I think I hurt him a few times, but he always seemed to escape, but I’m pretty happy and happy to have done the 10 rounds.”
Ritson, pictured above with dad, Davy, and manager Phil Jeffries (right) paid tribute to Benitez who gave it his all on his first fight outside South America.
“There was a bit of everything from Benitez, he was negative some rounds, he was fighting some rounds and he was holding some rounds,” he said.
“We knew he’d be tough and we’d get the rounds, he’d only been stopped once and that was from a cut, no-one had taken him apart.
“He was a hard opponent to look good against but we got a hard fight, we got rounds, we got the win and the belt and that’s what we wanted.”
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Jennifer Charlton
