By Gav Duthie: Despite the nation only having 13 ex world champions in the history of boxing there have been a couple of times where Scottish fans have had the excitement of watching two of them face each other. Ricky Burns v Scott Harrison is not one of those times. This is a fight that Harrison doesn’t deserve and Burns doesn’t need. If Ricky wants to be a genuine contender at 140lbs he needs to fight a genuine contender at the weight. I hope they are not going to try to make this into some sort of a grudge match that it is not.
Ricky Burns- The Good
Despite his drop in form Ricky has more than surpassed any expectations that local fans had for him. He was fighting well under the radar in the mid 2000’s in the shadow of Scott Harrison and Alex Arthur. After he was outpointed by Arthur for the British title and then again by all action Carl Johanson he was widely considered a domestic level fighter. This was until he fought the fight of his life when he dethroned Roman Martinez. Ricky needs to get this hunger back and the attitude that he is never beaten. He won titles on his workrate, energy, determination and will to win. I think fighting Scott Harrison is a major step down but being that it is between two local fighters it might give him the motivation he needs. I think moving up in weight is probably a mistake but I can understand his desperation after his last 4 performances. Ricky is an inspirational fighter and role model for the regular guy, nobody in Scotland has ever claimed he was the best technically but he has shown what a normal person can achieve with hard work.
Willie Limond – The Bad
Willie Limond is the Scot who deserves a decent payday against Burns. Limond is the epitome of the boxing nearly man. He’s good enough to share a ring with Erik Morales and nearly stopped Amir Khan but he has never made enough to go full time in boxing. Willie has had to turn down purses of around £10,000 in the past because he has obligations with his joinery business. How is he expected to compete with someone like Khan who was allegedly given around £1,000,000 to sign pro with Frank Warren. He has never really got what he deserved from the sport. Limond finally won the British title at the third attempt a couple of months ago with a fine boxing display against ex-footballer Curtis Woodhouse. Like Harrison Willie Limond is 35 years old but he really deserves a good sporting send off. Unlike Harrison he is a hard working dedicated family man who would love to sign off with a big win.
Scott Harrison – The Ugly
Scott Harrison hasn’t had a meaningful fight since Victor Polo in (date here). I genuinely used to worship him as a Scottish fan. He provided many great nights in Glasgow and we were all looking forward to many more. He has been in a spanish prison for half a decade due to various assault charges. Scott was a very successful boxer during a golden patch in the featherweight division which included Hamed, Barrera, Morales, Marquez, Medina and the late Johnny Tapia. Scott only has himself to blame for missing out on those big fights. His style was predominantly aggressive, accurate punching and his physical dominance allowed him to push opponents round the ring which was particularly evident with the smaller Chacon and McCullouch. These physical advantages are gone at light welterweight as are his stamina which was also an important tool. There are still more assault charges pending for Scott and it is not unthinkable that he could go to prison again. There is likely only a small window of opportunity for this fight but why should it even happen and how much interest would there be.
I would imagine that Scottish boxing fans are sensible enough to realise that this is not a great fight and I think it would be a mistake for it to happen.
Scottish fights between World champions
Ken Buchanan W15 Jim Watt
Alex Arthur W12 Ricky Burns
Scottish Champions in Alphabetical order
Alex Arthur
Ricky Burns
Ken Buchanan
Pat Clinton
Scott Harrison
Johnny Hill
Tancy Lee
Benny Lynch
Walter McGowan
Jackie Peterson
Murray Sutherland
Jim Watt
Paul Weir
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