by Shaun Brown
Former Commonwealth lightweight champion Tommy Coyle is keen to face current British champion Lewis Ritson at some point in the future.
This week Coyle, 28, relinquished the title he won from Sean Dodd in April. The (24-4, 12 KOs) Hull native now looks set to make his American debut, a dream of his, in September.
Dodd will get a chance to win his old strap back when he faces 2016 Olympian Joe Cordina on a Matchroom NXTGEN show on August 4 in Cardiff.
While Coyle's future lies Stateside, perhaps as a one-off, he has welcomed a fight against Ritson who this week signed a five-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing.
Newcastle's Ritson won the 135lbs Lonsdale belt outright last weekend inside a bear-pit atmosphere, stopping Belfast's Paul Hyland Jr. inside one round. It was the latest all-action, blistering performance from Ritson who is now, arguably, Britan's most exciting fighter.
"Let me go Stateside and live a dream I’ve always dreamed then I’ll come home and stand toe to toe with the 'Sandman' (Lewis Ritson) and give the fans exactly what they want. I’ve achieved what I wanted so I’m gonna go for broke. Include it in his 5...," Coyle tweeted yesterday (June 20).
"Great stuff pal, sure Eddie can sort it out straight away mate," Ritson replied.
After beating Sean Dodd to win his first domestic title the all-action Coyle appeared torn on whether or not carry on fighting. Weeks of deliberation led Coyle to tell his Twitter followers earlier this month: "Back training with purpose having decided I am gonna fight again and go for broke. Eddie Hearn has promised to deliver me a big fight Stateside as apart of boxing's biggest ever deal. Fair play to him, he's always been bang on with me. Excited!"
Speaking to the Hull Daily Mail, Coyle said: “I’m so excited about seeing how far I can go and getting a chance in America.
“I want to go for broke now and reach for the stars. You’ve got to set lofty goals in life and try your hardest to reach them. I’m not going to be boxing forever. I’ll give this another 12 months or so but let’s see how far I can go.”
As for Ritson it looks like the 'Geordie Golovkin' could now go for the European lightweight title, currently held by Finland's Edis Tatli who will next defend it on August 11 against Frenchman Marvin Petit.
"The European title is the logical next step, I’d like to prove to myself I can win that which is a move up and there’s some talk of a fight in America before the close of the year but that’s all up to Eddie and the team to lock down and for me to keep doing what I do best," Ritson said in a Matchroom press release.
His promoter Eddie Hearn added: “I’ve been completely blown away with what Lewis has done over the past eight months and last Saturday in Newcastle was epic. I think he is one of the most exciting fighters in World boxing right now and has a huge future in the sport."
Shaun Brown covers British boxing for Boxing Scene. Contact him on Twitter @sbrown2pt0
