Paul Hyland Jr looking to push onto world level by completing MHD hat-trick

Paul Hyland Jnr [18(7)-0] is aiming to make it a massive MHD treble when he challenges British lightweight champion Lewis Ritson at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle this coming Saturday night [June 16th].

The Belfast fighter is aiming to stop Geordie Ritson winning the Lonsdale belt outright and catapult his own career on the same night, live on Sky Sports.

Ritson [15(9)-0] is on an impressive run and has emerged as as the next big Matchroom thing. The Newcastle fighter picked up the belt after stopping Robbie Barrett in seven rounds in Manchester in October before blasting away Joe Murray and Scotty Cardle in one and two rounds respectively in February and March.

Hyland has accepted the underdog tag and seems to be reveling in it, being buoyed by wins for stablemates Ronnie Clark and James Tennyson over Zelfa Barrett and Martin J. Ward respectively.

The two, also managed by Mark Dunlop, claimed massive wins from the away corner and Hyland hopes to make it a hat-trick

“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,” noted the Lagmore fighter who turns 28 the day after the fight.

Apart from keeping the impressive run of his stable mates going the unbeaten Ulsterman knows victory over ‘The Sandman’ would open doors to more major honours in the winter. 

“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.”

Hyland has never been one to shy away from action and as a result has forged a reputation as one of Ireland’s more entertaining fighters.

That reputation might spread further afield come Saturday night as the Commonwealth Youth bronze medallist predicts a war in Newcastle – indeed most feel dragging the heavy-hitter into the trenches and the later rounds is the key to victory.

“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.”