In an IBF junior welterweight eliminator, undefeated #5 ranked Jeremias Ponce (28-0, 18 KOs) scored a tenth round knockout over #6 ranked Lewis Ritson (21-2, 12 KOs) on Saturday night at the Vertu Motors Arena in Newcastle, England.
Ponce had a big first round punishing Ritson and controlled much of the fight after that.
Ponce becomes the IBF mandatory challenger for undisputed champion Josh Taylor.
Unbeaten WBO #3, IBF #8 super bantamweight Thomas Patrick Ward (30-0-1, 4 KOs) outpointed Edy Valencia Mercado (17-6-6, 5 KOs) in a ten round featherweight clash. Ward was dropped in round five, but otherwise had things his way in a mostly dull 97-93, 98-92, 98-92 unanimous decision.
Unbeaten heavyweight brawler Alen Babic (7-0, 7 KOs) brutally knocked out Damian Chambers (11-2, 7 KOs) in round three. A left hook finished Chambers. Babic is crude and relentless. Exciting fighter.
Heavyweight Solomon Dacres (2-0, 1 KO) stopped Alvaro Terrero (5-12-2, 3 KOs) in round four.
Former Team GB super welterweight standout Cyrus Pattinson won his professional debut in a six round Super-Welterweight clash with a second round KO over Yoncho Markov (4-3, 2 KOs).
Ponce is relentless.
Ref throws out the towel when the British fighter is hurt on the canvas. If Ponce was ever even staggered the ref would have stopped the fight immediately. lol
Does look like the referee was told who was supposed to win.
What happen to Matias? He was supposed to meet the winner of the Ponce,Ritson to name the mandatory.
I’ve been wrong before, but I’d be shocked if Ponce doesn’t win a title. That kind of relentless pressure, a solid punch, and no signs of tiring is a force to reckon with.
Yep. Ponce is definitely the goods. I don’t know if he beats Taylor but he probably won’t have to. Subriel Matias is ranked #2 for the IBF at 140, that would be a great fight!
Ritson didn’t have any answers for Ponce’s relentless pressure. His return fire got less and less as the fight went on while Ponce was ramping up his attack. It probably should have been stopped when the towel was first thrown in by his corner, but the ref gave him another chance. It was mercifully stopped shortly after. Ponce is relentless, throws a high volume of punches without slowing down, can take a good punch and has sting in his punches. He is capable of winning a world title.
I had high hopes for Thomas Patrick Ward after seeing him dominate Hernandez. However, after watching his past few fights I finally concluded that he just doesn’t have any pop in his punches, at least not enough to bother the top fighters. He’s a slick boxer but that’s basically it. He will be in real trouble if he is matched up against someone who can box and punch. He’s asking for Navarrette, but if he does get that fight, Navarrette will stop him.
This referee should be suspended, even have his license revoked. The corner knew the fight was over. He was knocked down twice afterwards. Boxing is a serious sport. What off something worse had happened.
I’ve actually never seen that before .. what would make a ref not want to stop a fight after a towel was thrown?.. is it because it was a body shot?. If he was getting knocked down from headshots would he stop it then?. I wonder. The corner knows their fighter so I don’t see why the ref would disagree with a stoppage if that’s what they thought was best for their fighter
Wow, Ritson is the most mentally weak contender I’ve maybe ever seen. Has to bottle whatsoever. Retire.