Lewis Ritson's Performance

Davis will dance rings round him all night.

 

Unless he improves or hurts Davies badly in first 3 or 4 rounds this is exactly what will happen.

 

Andy Lee said it as it was last night on Sky (Please keep him on the punditry Sky! PLEASE!!!) Ritson relies on his size and power to win fights. By going up a weight he removes that from his game and becomes a useless fighter. He needs to work harder to get in shape, go back down to where he was and try again.

The other problems is that he needs to NOT come forward all the time. Why let yourself take more punishment than is needed. Ritson has decent stamina and he could use more of that in exchange for more movement around the ring. Keep the power and the size advantages at the previous weight, but don't engage as much, stay back and run around the ring a bit more.

He should come in and out of range rather than staying in range and taking punches he didn't need to be taking. Ritson's jab has potential and it is possible that with a better trainer he could change his style to a more balanced approach.

He has the potential for world level. He's never going to be elite but if he can make enough changes he can fight on the world scene and maybe capture a world title against a lesser opponent. He shouldn't be scared to move around the ring. He's got the stamina to pull it off so why not?

 

He has disappointed in the last two fights but I am a supporter of him regardless, it's slim pickings for us up here in terms of decent sportsmen to follow.

He abandoned the jab again last night and tried too hard to blast the guy out.

It doesn't say much for British boxing when two foreigners give a guy hell that has walked through four Britons it about ten rounds total.

 

Thought Andy Lee was spot on

 

He always is.

One of my favourite people in boxing and a great pundit.

 

@MeatFeastMan I agree Andy Lee was excellent on punditary duty. I agree they should keep him on (but only if they let him stay objective).

 

Andy Lee is definitely a positive addition to the Sky pundit team and his comments regarding Ritson are valid .Ritson getting to lightweight becomes increasingly harder with age particularly when you have a frame size which 20 odd years ago with weigh ins on fight day would have meant you were a welterweight! When Ritson won the title and subsequent Lonsdale belt those were decent domestic opponents but sorry to use the well worn phrase “it’s all about levels” . The Euro defeat against an opponent that everyone thought was a gimme showed his deficiencies. His team have tried to address this by trying to alleviate issues around making weight and it was mentioned that he had been Stateside for sparring. He won the fight but not a clearly as the scorecards early on I thought a saw a slight improvement but the Argentine guy was no mug (Matchroom matchmaker slip as briefly mentioned by Eddie) . I think Ritson ‘s best interest is to forget fighting for Lt Welter title in near future grow into weight , get a more technical coach , milk the title he won on Saturday against the right opponents to continue the learning process .

 

Appears to me he relied on being a huge lightweight and using that physicality to blitz domestic opposition. That style can move up the levels successfully but once weight issues creep in, the game is usually up.

Agree the best option for Ritson is find a top nutritionist who can get him down to lightweight healthily. Easier said than done.

 

If he doesnt blast you out in 4 rounds, he runs out of ideas and is completely lost.

 

Ritson used to box a lot more in his earlier days. Since he fought Barrett for the British, that's when we've seen his style develop more towards, how he is fighting recently.
Ritson can box, we need to see him going back to how he used to fight.

 

Lewis is a great fighter and will prove it hopefully at light welter, the top nutritionist in the world won’t get you dow to lightweight if your body has out grown it.
Do remember Lewis was a welterweight in the amateurs

 

Perhaps, I hope so. Newcastle would be a brilliant place for a world champion. Needs a really good performance now at light welter.