Undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh ‘The Tartan Tornado’ Taylor 18-0 (13) has a new challenger to his throne after Jeremias Ponce 28-0 (18) destroyed Lewis Ritson 21-2 (12) in an IBF official eliminator over the weekend.
The 24-year-old Argentine was relentless in his assault of Briton Ritson, 27, wearing him down to drop him three times and stop him in the 10th at the Eagles Community Arena in Newcastle, England on Saturday night.
Scottish southpaw Taylor, 30, unified the WBA, IBF, WBC and WBO championships with a 12-round unanimous decision win over previously undefeated 28-year-old Mexican-American Ramirez 26-1 (17) in Las Vegas last month. With the win Taylor inherited a WBO mandatory defence against 27-year-old British southpaw Jack ‘El Gato’ Catterall 26-0 (13).
“We’ll get to work on a fight with Josh Taylor and Jeremias Ponce when it gets ordered by the IBF,” Promoter Frank Warren, who represents both Catterall and Ponce, told Sky Sports.
“We also have Jack Catterall, who sits as Taylor’s WBO mandatory, so if Josh is looking to hold on to his belts, he’s got some tough challenges waiting for him.”
Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn was hoping to manoeuvre Ritson into a shot at the vacant IBF title with the view that Taylor would choose to move up in weight to the marquee welterweight division after the Catterall defence where big names like Manny Pacquiao, Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford await.
“I think the problem with Josh Taylor now is he’s got all these mandatories lined up, so next for him is the WBO title mandatory with Jack Catterall and then after that is going to be the winner of this fight,” Hearn told Sky Sports ahead of the Ritson-Ponce fight.
“Josh Taylor is also looking, saying, ‘I’m now undisputed, I want to not just cash in, but I want the legacy fight.’ Is that moving up to welterweight to fight Terence Crawford, or another great fighter in the 147lb division?
“I think that he probably will do the Catterall fight but then he may vacate after that, so this title would become vacant.”
Ritson reflected on his loss and what it means for his career. He was hurt to the body in the opening round and in the 10th referee Steve Gray inexplicably kicked the towel out of the ring when it was thrown in by Ritson’s corner and allowed the onslaught to continue.
“We try to push ourselves in boxing and to the highest level we can,” Ritson said. “I’m honest and a realist and that next level seems a step too far for me. We’ll keep banging on the door and there’s loads of great fights out there for me.
“Truth be told I shouldn’t have even made it out of the first round and it took everything in me to do that. I kept fighting until the end.
“The corner told me I had one more round to change things or the towel was going in. I told Owen under no circumstances throw the towel in and I have no problem with the referee throwing it out, he could have knocked me down 100 times and I would have got back up!
“I’ve tried to reach the level everyone dreams of and get a world title fight and sadly we’ve tried and failed and aren’t at the level to get there but being back home with my family is all that matters in the world to me.”
As for Ponce, he is happy to return to the UK for his next fight.
“This fight has gone really well,” Ponce told Sky Sports.
“I’m really happy and I’m really grateful for how things have turned out, so that wouldn’t be a problem whatsoever.”
