By Elliot Foster

Lewis Ritson will return to the ring next month.

The North East man, a former outright British lightweight champion who has recently moved up in weight, was last in action back in March.

Ritson won the Lonsdale belt and made three defences within the space of eight months and then went on to challenge for the vacant European crown against Francesco Patera.

Patera got the better of Ritson on the night, back in October at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, but he returned earlier this year at the Copper Box Arena in London to claim the vacant WBA Inter-Continental title up at super-lightweight against German Argentino Benitez.

And now, he will be back on July 6 at Manchester Arena, exclusively live on Sky Sports in the UK and DAZN Stateside, as part of a card that has yet to have a confirmed headliner but already has a solid supporting cast.

Ritson will feature on the card alongside Lawrence Okolie, who is already down to defend his British and Commonwealth cruiserweight title against Jack Massey on the show.

Felix Cash will face Jack Cullen in a defence of his Commonwealth middleweight title and Scott Fitzgerald will look to build on the biggest win of his career to date when he looks to retain the WBA International super-welterweight crown against former outright British champion Brian Rose.

Liverpool duo Anthony Fowler, who lost to the aforementioned Fitzgerald back in March, and Thomas Hart are on along with former Team GB starlet Dalton Smith and Anthony Crolla-trained prospect Dylan Evans.

Kieran Farrell, the former fighter who is now a successful manager and promoter, has also managed to get two slots on the card for his fighters.

Nathan Farrell, the brother of the former undefeated Heywood man, will make his professional debut and there is action scheduled for Khaleel Majid, who is just 22 years old and currently holds a pro ledger of 3-0.