Tuesday 10 October 2017 16:05, UK
Lewis Ritson has signed a promotional deal with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing and has set his sights on winning the British title outright.
The 24-year-old impressed as he landed the Lonsdale belt in destructive fashion against Robbie Barrett in Manchester on Saturday, dropping the champion four times before a seventh round stoppage.
The victory meant the Newcastle lightweight improved his record to 13-0, seven of those wins coming inside the distance and 'The Sandman' now wants to help bring big time boxing back to the North East.
"I'm so excited to be signing with Eddie and Matchroom," said Ritson.
"It's happened so quickly. I got the win on Saturday, spoke to my manager then, we agreed and have signed the contract straight away. It's been a ride the last couple of days but I've enjoyed it.
"Sky Sports is the biggest platform you can fight on, you can't ask for much bigger. It's going to spur me on a level and hopefully it can help the other North East fighters to feature and give them some coverage too."
In a packed domestic scene, Ritson is hoping that he can line up title defences against the likes of Sean Dodd and Scott Cardle.
Lewis put in a ruthless performance to win the British title with plenty of Geordie support in the Manchester Arena and I'm very excited about his future
"My next goal is to win it outright and have it for keeps.
"It's a buzzing division at the minute with the likes of Scott Cardle and Sean Dodd. They are the big domestic names at lightweight and if I can beat them then I'll be well on the way to keeping the belt for good.
"They definitely interest me. Hopefully either one of them is my next move. You have Anthony Crolla, Ricky Burns and Luke Campbell who are world-level, but beneath that it's Dodd and Cardle. I don't think they should be hard to make being with Eddie as well.
"I think Eddie has pencilled in my first title defence for December time, squeezing one in before the end of the year. Then maybe February or March back home in Newcastle with Josh Kelly too.
"Eddie's the boss now, so I've got to wait and see what he says and where the next fight is."
Hearn said: "People have been telling me about Lewis for a long time and on Saturday night we got to see why.
"Lewis put in a ruthless performance to win the British title with plenty of Geordie support in the Manchester Arena and I'm very excited about his future.
"The North East is an important area for us to focus on with the development of Josh Kelly and I'm looking forward to bringing a major show there in the early part of 2018."
