Pacquiao picks Beltran to beat Ricky Burns

By Boxing News - 08/09/2013 - Comments

beltran1By Scott Gilfoid: Manny Pacquiao is picking Raymundo Beltran (28-6, 17 KO’s) to beat WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-2, 11 KO’s) in their fight next month on September 7th at the Scottish Exhibition Centre, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. Pacquiao knows how talented the 32-year-old Beltran is because he’s been his sparring partner, and the two have battled it more numerous times with Beltran giving as good as he gets.

Pacquiao told WealthTV “I believe Beltran will make [take] it. He is a nice guy, a good boxer and good luck to him. Hopefully he can make it.”

Forget the nice guy stuff; Beltran is like a relentless lion in the ring. He doesn’t stop coming forward even for an instant, and no matter how good your boxing skills are, he’s going to force you into a war.

Burns likes to do a lot of clinching in close, because he doesn’t have good inside fighting skills. Well, Beltran doesn’t let guys clinch. He keeps nailing them with body shots while he’s being held, so if Burns tries that trick against him, he’s going to be getting a belly full of leather all night long.

Burns also likes to cover up and lay on the ropes. We saw a lot of that in his fight against Michael Katsidis two years ago in 2011. If Burns goes into the rope-a-dope mode with Beltran, he’s going to get his body taken apart.

Burns also likes to use a lot of arm bars to keep his opponents from throwing punches. I’m afraid that’s not going to work against Beltran unless Burns knows how to put in double arm bars. If Burns grabs one of Beltran’s arms, he’s going to be getting nailed with his free arm. Beltran isn’t going to play nice and let Burns tie him up all night long to try and squeak out a win in front of his Scottish fans in Glasgow.

Beltran has looked impressive lately, beating Ji-Hoon Kim, Alejandro Rodriguez and Henry Lundy. The win over Lundy was especially great, because Lundy is a really good fighter. I see Lundy as a much better fighter than Burns. There’s no comparison; yet Beltran was able to walk Lundy down and force him into a war in close.

Lundy never stood a chance against Beltran once the fight got to the inside. I see the same thing happening with Burns. He’s going to try and run, but he’s not going to be able to do that for 12 rounds without Beltran nailing him over and over again.



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