Boxing Results: Lewis Ritson defeats Miguel Vazquez

By Boxing News - 10/17/2020 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Light welterweight contender Lewis Ritson (21-1, 12 KOs) won a grueling 12 round split decision over former IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez (42-10, 16 KOs) on Saturday evening in a fight behind closed doors at the East of England Arena in Peterborough, England.

The judges scored it 115-113, 117-111 for Ritson, and 116-113 for the 33-year-old Vazquez. Boxing News 24 had Vazquez winning 116-113. He was the better fighter tonight in exposing Ritson, just as Francisco Patera did two years ago in 2018.

Vazquez, who came into the contest having lost four out of his previous seven contests, peppered the 27-year-old Ritson with shots the entire fight. The Mexican warrior hit Ritson with tapping shots much of the time and outmaneuvering him with his tricky footwork.

Vazquez purposefully held back in hitting Ritson on many occasions when he would catch him out of position with his footwork. Ritson’s slow reaction time to Vazquez’s movement left him an easy target, causing him to get nailed repeatedly with shots.

The judges were obviously more impressed with the superior punching power of Ritson. He was landing the harder shots without question, but he was getting hit so frequently. Vazquez couldn’t miss with his shots, and he was teeing off on the wide-open Ritson.

By the 5th round, Ritson’s face was badly reddened from all the punches that Vazquez hit him with. When you’re getting hit as much as Ritson was, it doesn’t matter that your opponent isn’t a huge puncher.

With the win, Ritson captures the WBA Intercontinental light-welterweight title., and he stays in position high in the ratings.

What’s more important than that is Ritson holds onto his #2 ranking with the World Boxing Association. He’s on the doorstep of getting a title shot against either WBA Super World 140lb champion Josh Taylor or WBA ‘regular’ champ Mario Barrios.

At this point, without a lot of improvements, Ritson has very little chance of beating either of those champs. His best chance of winning a world title is if the Josh Taylor vs. Jose Ramirez clash winner in 2021 vacates the WBA title, which would put Ritson in a good position to scramble for the belt.

Even then, he would have problems if he had to fight for the belt against Regis Prograis, Alberto Puello, or Rances Barthelemy.

The idea behind Ritson facing the past his best Vazquez was obviously for him to look good and get a sure thing win. Well, Ritson won tonight, albeit by a questionable decision, but he sure as heck didn’t look good. He arguably won a hometown decision, and Vazquez made him look bad every step of the way.

Ritson should think about moving down to 135, where his power will carry further, and he won’t have to worry about tangling with the likes of Prograis, Taylor, and Ramirez.

Based on Ritson’s performance against Vazquez, he’s not ready to fight any good light-welterweights in the division. He hasn’t improved since his loss to Patera in 2018, and it’s not likely that he will get any better.

In other action on the card:

Marc Leach defeats Qais Ashfaq

Super bantamweight Marc Leach (15-1-1, 3 KO) defeated Qais Ashfaq (8-1, 3 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were 95-93, 96-93, and 96-92. Qais Ashfaq hit the deck in the fourth and seventh rounds.

Rylan Charlton stops Joe Laws

Light welterweight Rylan Charlton (6-0-1, 3 KOs) defeated Joe Laws (9-1, 5 KOs) by a third-round knockout. Charlton overwhelmed Laws with his punching power in dropping him in the first and two more times in the third. It was a shocker to see Laws getting blasted out by Charlton, but oh well.

Thomas Patrick Ward vs. Thomas Essomba ends in a draw

Super bantamweight Thomas Patrick Ward (29-0-1, 4 KOs) and Thomas Essomba (10-6-1, 4 KOs) fought to an eight-round draw. The judges scored it 88-84 for Ward, 88-85 for Essomba, and 86-86.