Lewis Ritson moving up in weight, vows to learn from setback

Lewis Ritson, a former British lightweight champion, is moving up to 140 pounds for his next fight, which is coming March 23 on DAZN at London’s Copper Box Arena.

Ritson (17-1, 11 KO) will face Argentina’s German Argentino Benitez (21-3, 9 KO) in a 10-round junior welterweight fight. Ritson, 25, is coming off of a loss to European champion Francesco Patera last October in Newcastle.

“Now is the right time to move up to 140 pounds,” said Ritson. “I probably should have moved up in weight a while ago but I was determined to test myself on the European scene which is why I carried on. There’s no excuses from me though about the last fight.”

Ritson vows to learn from the loss to Patera.

“I’ve watched the Patera fight back once and I won’t be doing so again,” he said. “It was a terrible performance and some of the mistakes I made on the night are inexcusable, but you live and learn.

“(Trainer Neil Fannon) said if I don’t get him out of there in the first half of the fight it would be a hard night’s work but I went in there with the mentality of just blasting him away early, like I had done to the previous couple of opponents, which was wrong. It’s opened my eyes and we’ve been working on my all-around game since.”

The 27-year-old Benitez has never fought outside of Argentina and is 2-2 in his last four fights.