Lewis Ritson ('Sandman') pugile

Lewis David Ritson (born 22 September 1993) is a British professional boxer. He held the British lightweight title from 2017 to 2018 and challenged once for the European lightweight title in 2018.Ritson first started boxing at the age of eight. He was an England international at amateur level and a dual title winner of the TTW belts at 67 kg and 71 kg respectively. Ritson had 97 amateur fights in total and was also an ABA Seniors finalist. Ritson made his professional boxing debut in April 2015 with a points win over Kristian Laight at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle. He went on to box a further six times throughout the remainder of the year, winning all six; two by knockout. Ritson won all five of his fights in 2016, culminating in him securing the BBBofC Northern Area lightweight title with a seventh-round knockout win over Jordan Ellison on 3 December 2016. As a result of his early performances as a professional, Ritson received interest from promoters Eddie Hearn, Barry McGuigan and Frank Warren.Having spent the first two years of his professional boxing career competing largely on small hall shows, Ritson fought live on Sky Sports for the first time on the undercard for Anthony Crolla–Ricky Burns at the Manchester Arena on 7 October 2017. He defeated Robbie Barrett by way of TKO in the seventh round having dropped Barrett on four occasions, in doing so winning the British lightweight title. Just three days after the fight, on 10 October 2017, he signed a promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing, with Ritson highlighting his next goal to successfully defend the title three times and consequently win the Lonsdale Belt outright. Ritson's first defence of his British title was pencilled in when he answered Joe Murray's challenge, with the pair headlining the Sky Sports NXTGEN bill in Manchester on 25 February 2018. Ritson won the bout courtesy of a "whirlwind stoppage victory" in the first round and afterwards discussed the possibility of fighting former British lightweight champion Scott Cardle, who was watching ringside. Cardle was subsequently named as Ritson's next opponent on the Dillian Whyte–Lucas Browne undercard at The O2 Arena on 24 March 2018. Ahead of the fight, Ritson stated "I've been on small hall shows in the past and now I'm headlining on Sky Sports and heading to The O2 on a big show – it's amazing and I'm working hard to make sure that this is just the beginning". Ritson successfully retained his British lightweight title with a second round stoppage victory over Cardle.