Pat McCormack looks set for his toughest test to date later this year after plans for a North East headliner were ruined.
Eddie Hearn, who promotes the Olympic silver medal-winning amateur, was supposed to announce a main event between Cyrus Pattinson and Lewis Ritson for November 11 last Saturday.
That fight would have been confirmed for Matchroom’s return to Newcastle –– at either the Vertu Motors Arena or the Utilita Arena –– had 29-year-old Pattinson beaten Conah Walker in Birmingham.
The pair met at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, exclusively live on DAZN, as part of the supporting cast to Galal Yafai’s dazzling one-round stoppage win over Tommy Frank in a defence of the WBC International flyweight crown.
Pattinson was down three times, once in the third, fifth and sixth rounds, with both boxers cut before the referee Michael Alexander accepted the retirement of Pattinson from his corner at the end of round eight.
Walker won the WBA International welterweight crown and, in defeating Pattinson who slips to 6-1 with four quick, has, it seems, handed Pattinson’s fellow former Birtley ABC team-mate McCormack a slot at the top of a show.
“Lewis Ritson was there, we were going to get in the ring after the fight and do the old head-to-head [with Ritson and Pattinson],” the aforementioned promoter Hearn said in the aftermath. “It’s a bad idea, we’ve done it a few times, so we won’t be doing that again.
“It’s tough on Pattinson but he got beat by a brilliant Conah Walker and he wasn’t good enough to win the fight and therefore, you don’t get the headline slot.”
Ritson (23-3, 12 KOs) rose through the domestic ranks at lightweight, claiming the British title outright before stepping up to super-lightweight and, last time out, at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle back in March, being knocked out by Ohara Davies inside nine rounds.
McCormack, meanwhile, hasn’t put a foot wrong since turning professional after claiming second place in Tokyo and most recently stopped Tony Dixon in Sheffield to clinch the WBA Continental title at super-welterweight.
“I think Pat McCormack should fight Lewis Ritson,” Hearn said. “It’s the perfect fight for Pat, for Lewis, for Newcastle.
“Obviously [Pat is] a huge star and if we can bring him down to that 147 [pound] mark, why not?
“We could do the Walker vs. Pattinson rematch on that card as well and look to do Mark Dickinson, maybe against Troy Williamson.”
Williamson is the former British super-welterweight champion who returned to winning ways last time out after previously being beaten by Josh Kelly for the Lonsdale belt and a fight with Dickinson would represent a big step up in class for the latter.
“There are so many great fights to make in the North East,” Hearn concluded, “and we still want to go there on November 11 and we will talk to all the management teams and get it sorted.”