Lewis Ritson has had an incredible year coming out of nowhere to win the British title. However it all went wrong on Saturday night when he took on Francisco Patera for the European title. So now the question is what went wrong for Lewis Ritson?
He went into the fight as a big favourite as he topped the bill in front of his hometown crowd, most people were expecting an early knockout. He started the fight in his typical aggressive fashion winning the early rounds but from about round 5 or 6 Patera started to have more success and Ritson’s shots seemed to be having less of an effect. As the fight went on it looked like he was running out of steam and ideas. although to his credit he kept trying to come forward to land his shots, however by the final bell Patera was in control of the fight and I don’t think there was anyone at ringside that could make a case for Ritson winning the fight at the end of the fight I had Patera winning the fight by a round, however the judges saw it differently scoring the fight 112-116 to Ritson and 112-116 Patera on the other two. So all three judges saw it the same way to different fighters although the judges had it wider than me and many people at ringside they definitely got the right winner.
It was a quality fight and many people including me would love to see a rematch at some point down the line. However before talk of a rematch can start we must figure out how and why Ritson lost on Saturday after such a bright start here’s just a few ideas of what might have gone wrong:
- Got The Game Plan Wrong: He started the fight on the front foot looking to land he’s power shots and when the stoppage didn’t come he didn’t seem to have a plan B.
- Punched himself out: As a result of his fast start he may have punched himself out not expecting the fight to go the distance.
- Weight Problems: Lewis Ritson is a massive Lightweight maybe getting down to the Lightweight limit is too much for him. So although he can make Lightweight it maybe taking too much out of him so he doesn’t have enough left in the tank if a fight goes the distance.
- Injury: After the fight in his post fight interview he said that he was caught with a body shot in the 5th round that he couldn’t recover from. It is possible that, that shot could have caused an injury possibly a broken rib. If you watch the fight back you can see that every time Patera went to the body Ritson immediately dropped his hands possibly to protect an injury.
- Bad Advice From The Corner: As we all know the advice a boxer gets from the corner is crucial but the advice Ritson was getting just didn’t seem right they were telling him he was winning rounds that he clearly lost and telling him Patera was out of gas when he wasn’t. Now I understand the need for a certain amount of play acting but there is no point in giving a fighter bad advice. If a fighter is losing a fight tell them the only time his corner started been honest with him was when it was too little too late.
There is no question that the better man on the night won the fight but were does Lewis Ritson go from here? It is important to remember that he is only 25 so 1 loss is in no way the end of his career, as he is still the raining British champion so he could always take a step back to British title level and get back to winning ways and in the next 18 months or so try again at European or Commonwealth level. I still believe that he’s got all the attributes to become a world champion whether that’s at lightweight remains to be seen. He has got a big rebuilding job on his hands but I think he will be back in the ring early next year. Sometimes losing a fight can make a fighter comeback better and stronger.
There’s no doubt that Saturday was a bad night at the office for Lewis Ritson but what do you think went wrong and were should he go from here? Please comment below and let me know what you think.