Jeremias Ponce batters Lewis Ritson to tenth round defeat in IBF Eliminator

Lewis Ritson fought bravely in front of his home crowd but ultimately found the non-stop aggression of Argentina's Jeremias Nicolas Ponce too much to handle in their IBF world super-lightweight title eliminator at the Eagles Community Centre in Newcastle, England.

If Ponce ever gets to challenge unified 140lb titleholder, Josh Taylor, it will be an interesting fight to watch. The 24-year-old from Buenos Aires in Argentina is now 28-0 with 18 Ko's and is exciting to watch.

Ritson was fortunate to get the nod over former IBF world lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez over 12 rounds in his last outing but his luck ran out against Ponce who dropped him three times in the 10th round to force referee Steve Gray to stop the fight at 1:24 of the round.

It seems at this stage that Ritson may have found his level at domestic and European level whereas Ponce will now be in some high profile fights with the big names of the super-lightweight division.