BoxRec

Lewis Ritson defends his British Lightweight title against Paul Hyland Jr and Josh Kelly challenges Commonwealth Welterweight champion Kris George on a bumper bill at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle on June 16, live on Sky Sports.

Ritson is aiming to capture the coveted Lord Lonsdale for keeps in what has been a stunning reign as British ruler, landing the crown in October by stopping Robbie Barrett in the tenth round in Manchester before the Newcastle ace displaying his awesome power with a first round demolition against Joe Murray in February and coming out on top in a two-round shootout with former champion Scotty Cardle at The O2 in March.

Hyland Jr is the mandatory challenger for Ritson’s title and the unbeaten Belfast star will be confident of taking the title home having tasted title glory himself in 2017 landing the IBF European strap at home in June with a first round KO over Adam Dingsdale and then defending it against Dublin’s Stephen Ormond.



Kelly landed his first pro title at Principality Stadium in Cardiff in March, beating former IBF World champion Carlos Molina to claim the WBA International Welterweight title in just his sixth pro fight. The Team GB Rio Olympian is one of the hottest properties in world boxing and the Sunderland star now aims to bag his second strap against Australian George, who makes the second defence of the title he landed in November 2016 in his first fight away from Australia.

There’s a stellar card in support of co-headliners as former World champion Stuart Hall challenges former World title challenger Gavin McDonnell for the WBC International Super-Bantamweight title. Hall has been chasing a rematch with McDonnell’s twin brother Jamie after falling to the Doncaster man in 2011, two years before he landed the IBF World Bantamweight title. There’s added spice to the fight as Darlington’s Hall also looks to gain revenge for gym-mate Gamal Yafai who McDonnell beat in a career-best performance in Sheffield in March to land the title he defends in Newcastle.

Another former World title challenger in Surrey’s Charlie Edwards faces an important clash against South Shields’ Anthony Nelson for the vacant WBA Continental Super-Flyweight title, while Middlesbrough’s Simon Vallily takes on English Cruiserweight champion Derby’s Arfan Iqbal.

Presser quotes

This looks like a good little card! Love watching Kelly and Ritson fight!

Thread already exists - http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f ... d#p4896572

Good card.

I favour Ritson via KO. Really good fighter. Looks ready for a step-up to European level.

Trying to see if any of my mates fancy this. I'm hoping the fact it's in Geordieland will convince them to go. Wee night out after it.

Ritson looks a lot bigger than Kelly in that picture!

Ritson been too impressive in recent fights. Don't see him being troubled and think he will rise even more to the occasion.

Stuey Hall and Gav Mc Donnell on the undercard is a quality fight.

Already looking forward to this weekend.

https://www.BS.com/news-hyland ... zo--129005

Paul Hyland Jnr is aiming to seal a hat-trick of huge wins for his manager Mark Dunlop when he challenges British Lightweight champion Lewis Ritson at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle on Saturday night (June 16), live on Sky Sports.

Hyland Jnr is aiming to stop Ritson winning the title outright after the local star picked up the belt stopping Robbie Barrett in seven rounds in Manchester in October and blasting away Joe Murray and Scotty Cardle in one and two rounds respectively in February and March.

The unbeaten Belfast man knows stopping Ritson’s run would open doors to more major honours in the winter, and buoyed by wins for Dunlop-led pals Ronnie Clark over Zelfa Barrett and James Tennyson over Martin J. Ward, ‘Hylo’ could wake up on his 28th birthday on Sunday as the first Northern Irishman to hold the Lord Lonsdale belt at 135lbs since Charlie Nash in 1978.

“Mark is on a bit of a roll with Ronnie beating Zelfa and James stopping Martin so it’s down to me to make it a treble,” said Hyland Jnr.

“The winner of this will push on towards a shot at the World title so it’s sort of like a World title eliminator in theory, there’s a lot riding on this. You win this, it puts you in the mix. That’s what we all dream about, to fight for a World title and this firmly puts me in a good place for that.

“I know Ritson is a tough bloke, he’ll come at me. Whatever he brings, I’ll take it. I believe I have a better boxing ability him that will show on the night, it’ll be a complete war.

“Cardle landed with some big blows in the first round when they fought, so it shows he can be hit. Cardle also only had three weeks to train for the fight so it was all or nothing for him in the first few rounds. He knew he couldn't go the distance. I will be a totally different proposition.”

Hyland Jnr’s clash with Ritson is part of a huge night of action in Newcastle Josh Kelly challenges Kris George for the Commonwealth Welterweight title.

Love watching Ritson fight! He has a fan friendly style. Perhaps a little to easy to hit at times but maybe he'll calm down and rectify that as he progresses?

Kelly is even better to watch than Ritson! Poetry in motion at times! He looks like he could go really far!

This is another good defence for Ritson, their not effing about with him are they? I thought he was devastating again against Cardle, soaked up a dangerous 1st round then destroyed Cardle in the 2nd, Hyland not a big puncher but I remember him destroying Dingsdale in a round, he also got a gift against Ormond and for that reason I'm heavily fancying Ritson in this one, I reckon he stops Hyland , I don't think Hyland will have the strength to keep him off, Hyland might be tricky for a few rounds but an early blowout wouldn't surprise me either

Anyone know the #Twitter handle for tonight's bill?

I'll be at work so will try to follow via that

supporting paul hyland tonight though this is no doubt his toughest fight think he got lucky against ormond , i like ritson real good match up here

Ritson KO1

Anyone scoring Iqbal vs Valilly ?

skanksta wrote: ↑16 Jun 2018, 14:27 Anyone scoring Iqbal vs Valilly ?

listening to it , not really watching it ,they have valilly wide

valliy looks comfortable holding the centre of the ring

Iqbal rd 6 last

Think it's quite close.... sky been generous to Valilly