Burns vs. Ocampo: This is going to be a tough fight, says Ricky

By Boxing News - 12/03/2012 - Comments

Image: Burns vs. Ocampo: This is going to be a tough fight, says RickyBy Scott Gilfoid: WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) has what appears to be an overmatchted opponent in non-top 15 ranked Jose Ocampo (17-5-1, 12 KO’s) to fight on December 15th at the ExCel Arena, Dockland, in London, United Kingdom. Ocampo, 23, faced Liam Walsh, a fringe contender that was supposed to be fighting Burns on 12/15, but suffered an injury in an automobile accident and had to pull out of the fight.

Walsh was considered by many to be way out of his class against Burns and I’m in agreement with that. However, now Ocampo has been picked, who is arguably a big drop off from Walsh, and we’re looking at a tremendous mismatch on December 15th. Unless Ocampo improves in a big hurry, he’s going to be another easy mark for Burns.

Burns is pouring on the praise for Ocampo, mentioning him in the same breath as Nonito Donaire and Manny Pacquiao due to his Filipino background. Burns said to ESPN “Filipino fighters are as tough as they come, just look at Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire. Like the Mexicans and Africans, they come to have a fight, and Ocampo will do just that. If he fights like those two, as people say he does, then I’ll be in for a tough night.”

I wish it were that easy. Gosh, if all you had to do was pick out someone that was Mexican and then extrapolate from there that they would be just as tough as Juan Manuel Marquez, then we’d have great fights all the time. However, this is the real world and just because Ocampo is Filipino like Pacquiao and Donaire doesn’t make him as good as those guys.

All you need to do is look at Ocampo’s resume to see that’s not Donaire or Pacquiao. Ocampo has losses to Rey Labao (19-4), Allan Tanada (8-0) and several other fighters that I’ve never heard of before, just as I’ve never heard of Laboa and Tanada.

The Burns-Ocampo fight is going to be a mismatch, and that’s how it goes. I don’t mind that, because I’ve already see Burns put in with guys like Nicky Cook, Andreas Evensen, Paulus Moses, and Joseph Laryea in terrible mismatches that just made you want to shake your head and wonder what on earth made them put those horrible fights together in the first place.

Since this is the type of opposition that Burns is fighting then I don’t think WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner should waste his time fighting Burns in a unification. It’s simply not worth it in my view. Until Burns starts facing the class of the lightweight division, I think Broner should ignore him and look to bigger fights against guys like Miguel Vazquez or Mercito Gesta, or better yet move up in weight to 140 to look for the big names.



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