By David Connor: I’ll never forget the night of September 4 2011, when I settled into my sofa, a cold beer in one hand and TV remote in the other. Ready to watch the nights action, a little known Scottish fighter called Ricky Burns was fighting for the WBO super-featherweight title against Puerto Rican ‘Roman Martinez’ in the Kelvin Centre, Glasgow.
Going into the fight the hard hitting unbeaten Roman “Rocky” Martinez (24-1, 15KOs) was the heavy favourite, where as the light hitting Commonwealth champion Burns (28-2, 7KOs) was given little chance of success. The experts seemed to be correct as Burns was floored by a heavy right in the first round, but a true Scottish warrior he rose to his feet and went on to largely dominate the action. When the scorecards were announced 115-112, 115-112 and 115-113 all in favour, the UK had a new world champion to be proud of.
I was sold, Ricky Burns was the man, but I also felt Burns was a brave but limited fighter with no power and no killer instinct, who would probably lose the title soon afterward. This is why he was so enthralling to watch. There was always the feeling that he was out of his depth. I was 100% sure he’d lose to Katsidis, but due to Burns having such rangy arms he kept Katsidis at bay, the challenger reminded me of an annoying little fly, buzzing around the champion but never posing any real threat.
Then came Paulus Moses, now whether or not Moses ever really had a chance i’ll never know, but the way he was built up pre-fight was as if Burns was going in the ring with the second coming of Mike Tyson – only at a lighter weight, so I was nervous for Ricky. The threat proved unfounded as Burns battered the African, in what proved to be a largely dull fight, where I found myself hollering at the TV, in Moses’ favour as I wanted to see some kind scrap.
Next up was Kevin Mitchell in a fight billed as ‘The battle of Britain’ which took place on 22 September 2012, although Mitchell was a past victim of Katsidis, most people felt – myself included, that Burns would lose. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Burns came out quick taking the fight to Mitchell in the first round and never letting up. He had Mitchell down twice in the fourth before the referee Terry O Connor stepped in and stopped the fight.
It seemed Ricky Burns was the real deal. But then a strange thing happened. Burns lost his spark.
If you consider the fact that a boxer is risking not only their health, but also to some small degree their life every time they enter the ring. A boxer needs not only skill and fitness, but also self confidence and a certain amount of recklessness. What I believe is Burns lost this recklessness and his self confidence, his two main attributes. I can only imagine him sitting in the dressing room pre-fight his heart pounding in his ears. A man riddled with self doubt. Imagining this would be the fight that would kill him. His trainer pushing him out to the ring telling him everything would be fine. He doesn’t want to go, but he doesn’t want to let his fans down either.
Of course this is completely speculative, but lets look at the facts. On 11 May 2013 Burns stepped into the ring with Puerto Rican Jose A Gonzalez, although unbeaten it was felt that Gonzalez had never been in the ring with anyone of any calibre and Ricky would blast through him. Ricky never got going, he was sluggish and kept trying to force the fight. Gonzalez was able to pick Burns off with ease, making him look mediocre. But Burns got very lucky as when the bell rang for the 10th, Gonzalez remained seated due to a hand injury – his corner had thrown in the towel.
Ever the sales man Eddie Hearn, Burns’ promoter sold us the story of Burns bravery – Gonzalez he told us hadn’t broken his hand at all, no Gonzalez had apparently given it his all and due to the fact that he hadn’t yet stopped Burns, we were lead to believe Burns had broken his opponents heart and so Gonzalez had quit on his stool. What a load of nonsense, but people seemed to buy it. Why would a fighter who was ahead on all the scorecards and giving his opponent a boxing lesson quit because of a broken heart – the truth is they wouldn’t. If he had, imagine the conversation that may have taken place in his corner after the 9th. ‘Listen team I can’t go back out there’. ‘Why Gonzo what is the problem your winning by a considerable margin?’ ‘I can’t do it, that guy, he’s broken my heart’. ‘No, not your heart, anything but your heart, looks like we’ll have to throw in the towel, there is no way as your friend and your trainer, I’m going to send you back out there with a broken heart. Don’t worry Gonzo we’ll say you have broken your hand. You can come again’.
Gonzalez genuinely broke his hand, no arguments.
And things were only going to get worse for Burns, because in his next fight against Raymundo Beltran almost all would agree Ricky lost, but was gifted a draw in a fight which Burns had his jaw broken. Again Burns just couldn’t get going it was as if he were throwing punches submerged in water. I have to admit it was brave of Burns to continue until the final bell and feel the only reason he did this was because he didn’t want to let his fans down.
On the 1st March 2014 Ricky Burns was to become former world champion. His foe Terence Crawford a young and tricky switch hitter who unanimously outpointed Ricky over the twelve round distance. Burns again looked terrible and was never in the fight.
Burns wasn’t the same rangy warrior we saw blast through Roman Martinez to win the title back in 2011, this was a fighter of much lower calibre, a fighter who seemed afraid to get hit. So what happened? Well my theory is quite simple; shortly before Burns fought Gonzalez he discovered his wife was pregnant. This changed Ricky from the limited but brave and reckless warrior he once was into a nervous fighter, one that didn’t want to get hurt, for now he had an unborn baby and wife to consider. A genuinely nice guy stuck in a catch 22 situation, he knew he needed to fight to provide for his future family, but by fighting he also knew that he’d be risking life and limb in order to entertain his adoring fans.
Ricky Burns isn’t the same fighter he was in 2011 when he was quoted as saying he wanted to have over 100 fights. It’s my opinion that he should retire from boxing as having a child has changed him, the same way it changes lots of men, having a child makes a man consider his actions. There is no way I would want to risk my life in the name of entertainment, I would rather be poor and live a happy life with my wife and children. I wonder are these the same thoughts the living legend Ricky Burns is having right now?
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