Morris: I am going to show more ring spite

Lewis Morris…back in the ring after first pro defeat

EXPECT Lewis Morris to come out fighting as he seeks a return to winning ways after the first defeat of his pro career.

His road to redemption takes him to the Hangar Events Venue, Wolverhampton, on Friday, September 15. BCB Promotions stage the show.

It’s three months since Morris was beaten by Tatenda Mangombe, who turned out to be a nightmare opponent.

Mangombe flew into the fray from the first bell and didn’t stop throwing leather, until the finish, even after he was tested by some text-book blows from Morris.

That left the decision to points and every round was claimed by Mangombe, who was awarded a 40-36 scoreline by referee Jamie Kirkpatrick.

Still aggrieved by the result, Morris has no other option but to dust himself down and go again, with his pro record now standing at 6-1.

Those five victories were all on points, with just one round conceded, and he’d completed six rounds before the setback, with a landslide success against Liam Richards.

Reiss Taylor, Josh Anderson, Ricky Leach, Luke Merrifield and Jake Pollard have also been vanquished by Morris, with only Merrifield taking a round against him.

Morris has lost before, at amateur level, and rebounded to amass a favourable record, with 24 wins from 31 bouts. He claimed area honours twice in the England Junior Championships.

He said: “I’ve been training hard and had lots of sparring with men  such as Cori and Tion Gibbs, who are talented lads that I’ve never sparred with before.

“I usually spar with Gully (Powar) and Jimmy (Jermaine Osbourne-Edwards) and there are always rounds for me when I go to BCB. There are so many people there!

“I’m going back up to six rounds and I’d have preferred that in my last fight, which showed me that I don’t need to be doing four-rounders anymore. I was gutted to have lost.

“I just thought that it was a bad score-card. In my opinion, I won the second and fourth round as clear as anything, edged the first and the third was close.

“He was throwing a lot of punches. In fact, he was swinging for the fences, but I didn’t get hit with anything. I didn’t have a mark on me and I landed the clean shots.

“I know what I did wrong and I know what I did right. I could have been a bit busier but boxing, in my eyes, is about hitting and not getting hit. I should have won comfortably.

“I’ve seen it happen, too many times in the amateurs, so I won’t take it too much to heart. All some fighters care about is protecting their ‘0,’ but I don’t have that problem now.

“I need to show a different side to me now. There needs to be more spite, aggression and being on the front-foot. I want stoppages, I’m fed up with going to points.

“I’m a counter-puncher, but I know that I can do the other side of it, too, and show that I’m the main man in there. It’s about being a ring general.”

*Tickets for the Hangar bill are available, priced at £40 standard or £75 VIP ringside, directly from the boxers or by visiting myfighttickets.com.