Ricky Burns v Jose Gonzalez press conference

By Boxing News - 05/08/2013 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) and his unbeaten challenger Jose Gonzalez (22-0, 17 KO’s) had their final press conference to market their fight for this Saturday night at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow, in Scotland, United Kingdom.

Neither guy much to say and Burns’ promoter Eddie Hearn from Matchroom Sport did most of the talking in his usual long-winded way. The press conference consisted pretty much of Hearn talking 80% of the time with only a few token words mixed in from the Burns and Gonzalez. I wanted to tell Hearn to shut his yap so that Burns and Gonzalez could do the talking. I mean, the whole fight is about them, not Hearn. I can’t stand when the promoter gets up there and gives a boring monologue; it’s so off putting.

Hearn said this to RingTV about the hard hitting Gonzalez: “I believe Ricky Burns is on a completely different level and I’m looking for him to put in a devastating performance…I think Ricky can stop Gonzalez.”

Ricky Burns put in a devastating performance? Who is Hearn trying to kid. The light hitting Burns isn’t stopping anyone on Saturday night, and he’s certainly not going to be looking “devastating” unless Hearn means in the sense of his clinching, holding and running ability. Burns tends to tie up his opponents, cover up and run.

Burns is not a puncher, and the fact that he stopped Kevin Mitchell in the 4th round last September is more of an indication of Mitchell not having the best chin than Burns being a big puncher. You have to remember Michael Katsidis stopped Mitchell in the 3rd round, and he hadn’t been the most active of fighters.

I see Gonzalez as putting in an impressive performance on Saturday night if he keep Burns from grabbing him all night. Gonzalez punches like no one I’ve ever seen before at lightweight, and he’s going to give Burns huge problems once he starts landing.

I think Burns will be aggressive until he gets hit, and if he’s still standing, he’ll start with the clinching, arm bars and running to keep from tasting any more of Gonzalez’s power.

There won’t be anything impressive about this fight from Burns’ end and I can see him winning a highly controversial decision if it goes to the scorecards. He’s not on the same level as Gonzalez in terms of power and skills, so I see him making the fight ugly as heck to muddy the waters if you will.



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