I watched the latest Shane Mcquigan interview on Sky , they discussed this as a match not surprisingly he didn’t dismiss it ! And it I was anything to do with Josh Taylor I would jump at the chance , It is a mismatch and it illustrates how useless ratings are I like Ritson but number 2 in the world ?
Incredible what a influential promoter and a big fan base will do for you. He’s not even the best ‘English’ 140, never mind British. Jack Catterall beats him for me. Ohara Davies gives him a very hard fight as does Flanagan & Joe Hughes.
This has always been the way and always will be to be fair. Popular fighters promoted well will have bigger and better options open to them.
I would prefer too see catterall v Taylor at least it's legitimate.i don't know what the situation is with jack and the wbo? Ritson is more likely to get a shot though.
I'm a Ritson fan and a geordie but I don't think he is anywhere near a title shot, to be honest I don't want to see the kid get embarrassed to the extent he doesn't fight at a decent level again. I would throw him in with some of the names you said to and if he beats them then think about a world title fight. It looks like Eddie is cashing in before he gets beat again.
Thing is, whilst Eddie clearly doesn’t believe in him and wants to cash in on him, if he just took his time with Ritson and put him in fights where he could develop then he could win a world title in future. Hearn has shown that he can get fringe world level fighters, title shots and even win on the right night. There’s a possibility he could build Ritson to that level imo. Just to add, before people say he’s not good enough, I’m sure people would have said the same about Crolla when he got beat off the likes of Al Hamidi & Sykes for example.
I think it would have to be quite a weak world champion because he seems to lack the size and power he had at lightweight, but you're right I never thought crolla would be world champion even if it wasn't the best guy he beat. There is no way I'd put him in with Taylor or prograis at this point unless I was a greedy spiv businessman.
The issue you have is this. If Hearn decides the immediate path for Ritson is Catterall, Davies and Flanagan, and he loses all of those, he is never going to have the St James Fight. But, if he fights someone like Prograis or Taylor at the stadium and loses, then Davies in an arena is still an option. Most would expect him to lose anyway. I know people are quick to call promoters out for cashing in, but the same can be true of fighters. Ritson isn't likely to have a particularly long career given his style, and nor is there likely to be as good an opportunity to earn himself life changing money if he takes on the aforementioned and gets beat.
It’s true what you say, but if it was an easier path they could grow his popularity and develop him further at the same time.
Maybe, but I think it can sometimes be worthwhile considering how long a fighter's career could be when these questions are raised. A different weight class perhaps, but recent retirements Carl Froch, George Groves and James DeGale had 35, 32 and 29 fights respectively before walking away. Ritson has had 21 and by the look of his recent ones he's going to be the sort of fighter who's taking damage to dish it out. In terms of growing his popularity, the question presumably now is to what extent if we're giving serious consideration to Ritson fighting for a world title in a stadium which could conceivably hold over fifty thousand. If he's popular enough that the notion of that happening isn't ridiculous then I'm not too sure how more popular he could become. I suppose the point I'd come back to is match him relatively easy for one or two fights, (albeit, he was supposed to be an unbackable favourite against Patera), then watch him lose against Davies/Flanagan, and I wonder if the big night goes up in smoke.
I agree. Stylewise I think Joe Hughes would be a nightmare for him. As for poor Jack Catterall he must be one of the worst promoted boxers in this country. He deserves so much better. I think we have not just a world class LWW in Taylor but an elite one, but Caterral is the only other LWW that I think we currently have that is above British/Euro level. Think hes world level, though might not be world class but he deserve the chance to find out if he is.
