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.
Gavin McDonnell defends his WBC International Super-Bantamweight title against Stuart Hall in a must-win clash for both men, Charlie Edwards and Anthony Nelson meet for the vacant WBA Continental Super-Flyweight title and Arfan Iqbal defends his English Cruiserweight belt against Simon Vallily.
The un-televised undercard of the “Shields vs. Gabriels” event on Friday, June 22, at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, is stacked with great fights between local and international prospects.
Salita Promotions has put together several strong match-ups in addition to the nationally televised SHOWTIME BOXING: SPECIAL EDITION (10 p.m. ET/PT) portion of the show, which features two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and current Unified Women’s Super-Middleweight Champion Claressa Shields (5-0, 2 KOs) taking on unified 154-pound champion Hanna Gabriels for the vacant IBF and WBA Women’s Middleweight World Championships.
Topping the off-TV action will be worldwide fan favorite Bakhtiyar “Bakha Bullet” Eyubov (13-0, 11 KOs) of Aktjubinsk, Kazakhstan, taking on Nicholas “King Beamen” Givhan (21-1-1, 11 KOs) of nearby Kalamazoo, Michigan, in a 10-rounder for the USBA Great Lakes Region Welterweight Championship
The action will further heat up with a 10-round light heavyweight showdown between Grozny, Russia’s Aslambek Idigov (12-0, 5 KOs) and Detroit’s own James “The Equalizer” Ballard (10-1, 3 KOs).
Detroit bantamweight favorite Ja’Rico “Great Lakes King” O’Quinn (8-0-1, 5 KOs) will bring his monstrous legion of fans in to watch him go eight rounds for the first time while taking on West Bloomfield, Michigan, veteran Yaqub Kareem (14-9-1, 8 KOs).
The sensational Franchon Crews Dezurn (3-1, 1 KO) of Baltimore will put on a six-round showcase against Ohio’s Crystal Byers; and in an eight-round heavyweight match-up,
Kurchaloi, Russia’s Apti Davtaev (14-0-1, 13 KOs) will attempt to continue his tear through the big man’s division against Catlettsburg, Kentucky, veteran Cory Phelps (16-10-1, 8 KOs).
Appearing in match-ups that are still being made, “Lethal” Leon Lawson (6-0, 4 KOs) of Flint will fight in a super welterweight six-rounder and Detroit’s undefeated Joseph Bonas (3-0, 3 KOs) will go four welterweight rounds. Both opponents are currently TBD.
Also on Showtime, Unified Women’s Middleweight Champion Christina Hammer (22-0, 10 KOs) of Germany defends her WBC & WBO Titles in her U.S. debut against former world champion Tori Nelson (17-1-3, 2 KOs) and in the 10-round opener, Russia’s Umar Salamov (20-1, 15 KOs) will face Georgia’s Brian Howard (13-1, 10 KOs) for the IBF North American Light Heavyweight Championship.
DeAndre Ware scored the biggest win of his young career as he won an eight-round majority decision over 2012 Olympian and previously undefeated Enrique Collazo in a super middleweight bout at King's Theatre in Brooklyn, New York.
After a tactical first three rounds, Ware took over the fight with relentless pressure while landing powerful shots to the head and body that forced Collazo to wilt.
Ware, who is a full-time fireman, specifically asked to fight Collazo, and he came through with flying colors as he won by the scores of 77-75 twice, and 76-76.
The bout was the 1st time that Ware navigated the 8 round distance, and he got stronger with each passing round.
"This was the biggest fight of my career," said Ware. "I am thankful for this opportunity, and I am looking forward to my career taking off after this big win. We are on our way to the top."
Said David McWater, CEO of Split-T Management, "This was a great win for all of us. DeAndre has been working hard, and was patiently waiting for his opportunity to come, and when it did, he came up with a big performance. He should be a player in the super middleweight division real soon."
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