By Scott Gilfoid: Promoter Eddie Hearn says that former WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison (27-3-2, 15 KO’s) is one of the names that he’s thinking of putting with his struggling fighter Ricky Burns (36-4-1, 11 KOs) for his next fight if he doesn’t match him against a domestic level fighter. The Harrison-Burns fight can only happen if the 36-year-old Harrison can get a boxing license to fight.
He hasn’t been in the ring for over a year now since his 10 round decision loss to Liam Walsh in April of 2013. Hearn says that if a Harrison vs. Burns fight were to be made, he would stage the fight in Scotland. That would be the one exception where Hearn would be willing to have Burns fight at home in Scotland. Hearn wants to get Burns away from Scotland for a while, because he feels that there’s too much pressure on him when he fights at home, and this could be one of the reasons why he’s been having problems in the ring.
Burns lost to fringe level contender Dejan Zlaticanin last Friday night by a 12 round split decision in Glasgow, Scotland. Zlaticanin was supposed to have been a stepping stone for Burns to get him a title shot against WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa, but instead Zlaticanin knocked Burns down in the opening round with a left hook and punished him with left hooks in the remaining 11 rounds.
“Should, as we expect, Scott Harrison have his license re-granted, then that may be the only fight for Ricky in Scotland. It is a fight that would still sell-out any arena north of the border and one that has been talked about potentially for the last few years,” said Hearn. “A fight with Harrison would be a great way back for Ricky as now he is probably three fights away from a world title and has to work his way back in. But there are other big domestic fights out there for him and realistically that is what we are now looking at for Ricky.”
I have a feeling that Ricky will never come back to the world level if he has to go through the likes of Harrison to get there. I mean, Harrison is about to turn 37, but he looked still plenty powerful in his last fight a year ago against Walsh. He punches every bit as hard as Zlaticanin, but he’s a heck of a lot busier than him, and he’s got more finesse about him.
If Burns can’t get out of the way of Harrison’s left hooks the way he couldn’t stop Zlaticanin’s left hooks and Raymundo Beltran’s left hooks, then I see Burns’ career effectively ending against Harrison. I just wonder whether Hearn would release Burns from his contract with Matchroom Sport after a loss to Harrison or if he could return him to domestic level with the hopes he might somehow work his way out of it in 3-4 fights. Burns’ loss to Zlaticanin should have given Hearn a pretty big hint that it might be over for Burns, but it looks like Hearn wants to give him the benefit of the doubt.
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