By Scott Gilfoid: WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s) is starting to get the sinking suspicion that WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) will be looking to avoid fighting him now that Broner has gotten past Antonio DeMarco with an impressive knockout victory and is setting his laser sights on the UK fighter.
With Burn’s cancelled fight this Saturday against Jose Ocampo, Broner was hoping Burns would agree to fight him on February 16th next year, and his promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions said he was going to try and persuade Burns to accept a fight with Broner. But we’ve learned is that Burns won’t be fighting Broner, and that he instead will be fighting on January 26th against an opponent still to be determined.
Broner said to the mirror.co.uk “I’m ready for Ricky Burns…I wanted to fight him for the WBO [super featherweight] title, but he moved up. I hope he doesn’t try and avoid me again.”
Gosh, I hope Burns doesn’t avoid Broner. It would be such a pity to see Burns choosing not to fight Broner, and instead looking to fight guys like Gavin Rees and Liam Walsh. However, that’s kind of what I see happening. I think it comes down to the danger that Broner presents for him. Walsh and Gavin are good title milking fights for Burns, but Broner has got to be seen as the end of the line for Burns as the WBO champ.
That’s not to say that he can’t pick up the title after Broner gets bored with having it. Broner just wants to whip Burns, take his title and hold onto it for a little while before moving onto much, much bigger and better things in the boxing world.
The Burns fight is like real low in terms of the goals that Broner is looking to accomplish with his career. Once Broner vacates the straps, then Burns can move in and hopefully win it back in the ring this time instead of having the World Boxing Organization give it to him.
With Burns apparently scheduled to fight on a different date, Broner is scheduled to fight Richard Abril (17-3-1, 8 KO’s) on February 16th in a still to be determined venue in the United States. I see Abril as a better fighter than Burns, but he doesn’t have Burns’s fan base, and he doesn’t have a title like Burns.
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