Junior welterweight contender Jeremias Ponce 28-0 (18) is inline for a world title shot following his punishing 10th round knockout victory over Lewis ‘Sandman’ Ritson 21-2 (12) in an IBF title eliminator at Eagles Community Arena in Newcastle, England on Saturday night.
The 24-year-old Argentine was relentless throughout the contest, wearing down Ritson round after round before eventually dropping him three times in the 10th to earn a mandatory title shot at undisputed 140-pound champion Josh ‘The Tartan Tornado’ Taylor 18-0 (13) of Scotland.
“Thanks very much for wishing me well after my fight,” Ponce told Chris Lloyd after the win. “It was a very tough fight, a lot tougher than I expected it to be. I expected a war with Ritson and he’s a tough fighter – tougher than I expected.”
The fight started badly for the hometown boxer and only got worse. Ritson was hurt to the body in the opening round as Ponce dug in downstairs with the 27-year-old trapped on the ropes. The body attacked continued in the second before Ritson was stung from an uppercut in the third.
“I did think it was over in the first round – it was a great body shot that I hit him with,” Ponce continued. “Any other boxer would have gone down. I hit him right on the button and it would have hurt him. He showed his toughness that he was able to recover from that.”
Ritson rallied in the fourth but his stand didn’t last long with Ponce reasserting control in the fifth. The uppercut was a particularly potent weapon for Ponce in the sixth as he repeatedly snapped back the head of Ritson before returning to the body in the seventh.
Ritson, who had swelling under his eye by the eighth round, made a defiant last stand in the ninth as he fought hard to keep Ponce off him.
Ritson’s father and trainer Dave Ritson warned his son he would give him one more round to salvage the fight, but the younger Riston wilted early in the 10th and found himself on the canvas. True to his word, Dave Ritson tossed the towel into the ring. That’s when things got weird.
Referee Steve Gray decided Ritson hadn’t taken enough punishment and kicked the towel out of the ring to allow the one-sided action to continue. Ritson had to be knocked down twice more before referee Gray finally waved off the fight at the 1:24 mark.
Gray was technically within his rights to allow the bout to continue as only the referee can stop the fight. However, in almost all circumstances the referee will follow the advice of the corner or the ringside doctor when it comes to retiring a fighter from battle. Bizarrely, Gray chose not to follow this convention.
Ponce was as bewildered as anyone.
“It was a bit confusing when we were in the ring because I thought the fight was over as soon as I saw the towel come in,” Ponce said.
“Then I saw the ref throw it out – to be honest, it was a bit of a shock. He’s probably hurt in the rib area now and he wouldn’t have been if he stopped the fight when we saw the towel come in.
“It’s one step closer to my dream. It’s the dream that you always have as a fighter. I’m one step away from that now. Thank you very much. I’m sorry it didn’t turn out as your expected but thank you very much.”
