Patera effectively outboxes Ritson to a split decision win!
A month after knocking out Oscar Amador in three rounds, Lewis Ritson enters the ring against former EBU champion Francesco Patera for the same title.
Many fans expected Ritson to dispose of Patera in the same fashion he did his six of his last ten opponents. However, the pedigree of the former champion showed he was ready for a fight. The popular British fighter would be in the most difficult fight of his professional career.
The Early Rounds
The story of the early rounds was the explosive jab of Ritson. Fans are used to seeing him blow his opponents away and watching him command with the jab was an anomaly.
The Italian had his moments on his back-foot, but he couldn’t find his rhythm as the jab of his opponent kept him reseting.
This would be the only time we see the undefeated fighter dominate in this fight.
The Middle Rounds
The tide would turn in the middle rounds. While the British champion would seemingly abandon the jab, Patera would turn up the pace using his superb conditioning. Ritson would return to the fighter we are used to seeing; moving inside and leading with hooks to the head and body.
The problem here was Patera never stayed in one spot long enough to let Ritson set himself. In the process, we would see him outbox the champion off his back-foot with ease. The uppercut became the punch of choice as he would shoot one, sometimes two off of moving laterally and landed with success.
At the end of the seventh round, we saw Ritson get hurt for the first time of his career by a right hand. He sat on the ropes in defensive mode for the last six seconds of the round, letting the bell save him from the onslaught.
Ritson had the right idea digging more to the body to stop his opponent from moving. However, Patera’s conditioning and his ability to read his opponent while being able to take his power saw him winning the majority of the middle rounds.
The Championship Rounds
Patera didn’t let up as the fight moved into the championship rounds. His conditioning made him look as if the fight just started! Moving laterally, setting, throwing combinations, then moving again was the working game-plan. Meanwhile, Ritson continued to abandon the jab that was working for him so well early in the fight.
The only success the British champion had was when his opponent would sit on the ropes. In round ten, we saw Ritson hurt for a second time by a body shot that had him reeling until the bell would save him again.
By the sound of the bell to start the twelfth round, 3kingsboxing.com had the former champion winning by one point. It was do or die for the undefeated British champion. Patera seemed to slow down a bit finally while Ritson tried his hardest to land something huge.
In The End
116-112 Ritson, 116-112 x2 for the former champion were the scorecards. Francesco Patera would get the upset in Newcastle and regain his lost EBU title!
3kingsboxing.com scored the fight 115-113 for Patera as well! Ritson admitted after the fight that he was the recipient of a body-shot that he could not recover from. He moves on to 17-1 with 11 knockouts and endshis eight fight knockout streak.
Patera moves to 20-3 with 7 knockouts and becomes a two-time EBU champion!
By: EJ Williams
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