A good 50-50 fight and may the best man win.
The assessment of a boxing pundit? No, the final word on the Lewis Ritson v Miguel Vazquez fight from the ‘Sandman’ himself.
Ritson starts as a very hot favourite, surely odds of 1-10 in a ‘two-horse race’ are somewhat outrageous?
But the 27-year-old is taking no notice of the bookies or taking anything for granted.
This bout between the WBA’s world number two light-welterweight and the former IBF world lightweight ruler can open the door for the Newcastle star to even bigger fights but Lewis will talk of nothing but the Mexican.
“We’ve got a tough fight ahead of us and we are ready to go,” said the Neil Fannan-trained fighter who says he has learned from his defeat exactly two years ago to Francesco Patera.
“I’ve been there before with Patera, looking past Patera, thinking I’m going to wipe the floor with him and look how that ended in tears.
“The defeat to him has helped me massively.
“I just focus on every fight as it comes.
“We’ve not mentioned anyone other than Vazquez, he’s the only fighter on our minds.”
Ritson is a different ‘animal’ from that night in Newcastle as we all witnessed last October at the Utilita Arena, where he beat Robie Davies Jnr over 12 thrilling rounds.
“I think you can see how I’ve developed, just fast forward a year from Patera to the Robbie Davies fight,” added the Phil Jeffries-managed boxer.
“It’s now a year since I beat Robbie and while we’d have a loved a couple of fights since then, I do think you’ll see an even more polished Lewis Ritson on Saturday.”
Lewis hopes his polish combined with his power beating the elusive 33-year-old.
“When I met him for the first time at the press conference in Gateshead I thought he looked massive,” he said. “But seeing him here in the hotel and at the weigh-in, I don’t think there is a lot of difference, he looked quite skinny, but I’m not taking anything from that.
“He’s been at the top for a long time, so I don’t think he’s going to be fazed by anything I bring to the table.
“It’s going to be a good 50-50 fight and may the best man win.”
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Mark Robinson/ Matchroom
