Ricky Burns: Pound to a Penny!

By Boxing News - 04/25/2015 - Comments

burns754By Sean Ness: El deporte del boxeo, Бокс, Le sport de la boxe, Der Boxsport, O esporte do boxe, Die sport van die boks, Ang sport ng boxing, The Sport of Boxing!

There are many nationalities involved in the sport. The people involved speak different languages and come from the most obscure backgrounds that in some cases, are totally alien to me or you however come fight night there are no boundaries, just two brave fighters lacing up leather to entertain a paying audience who all understand what they are about to witness and on May 9th at the State Farm Arena, Hidalgo, Texas it will be no different.

“I belong to Glasgow, Dear old Glasgow town” and only a stone throw away is a place called Coatbridge where former WBO Lightweight and WBO Super Featherweight World Champion, Ricky “Rickster” Burns (37-4-1) hails from. A true son of Scotland and a credit to British boxing, Ricky has captured the hearts and minds of boxing fans the whole world over with his “never say die attitude” and tremendous courage. He has given the Scottish fight fans fantastic nights to remember with stellar performances including his wins over Roman “Rocky” Martinez, Michael Katsidis, and Kevin Mitchell to name a few. Anyone who has ever met Ricky has only ever had kind words to say about the man and I for one am happy that he will get to test himself against one of the best Lightweights in the world, undefeated former WBC Lightweight World Champion Omar “Panterita” Figueroa Jr (24-0-1) whilst making a few quid in the process. The fight will be shown live on CBS as a part of the Premier Boxing Champion’s platform.

I implore you, the reader, to not get confused with my admiration for Ricky because I’m a realist. Ricky has managed to taste defeat in the last two of his three bouts. He was beaten by a unanimous decision following his fight with current WBO Light Welterweight Champion, Terence “Bud” Crawford which is nothing to be ashamed of given the calibre of the fighter that Crawford is. Ricky was also beaten by a fairly unknown fighter by the name of Dejan Zlaticanin (20-0-0) at the Braehead arena, Glasgow which was supposed to be his comeback fight. Not only did Ricky lose but there didn’t seem to be any of the skill there that we, the British fight fans had witnessed pre Raymundo Beltran and it truly breaks my heart to admit that fact.

“Sugar” Ray Beltran (29-7-1) arrived in the UK to fight Ricky Burns at the Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow on the 7th September 2013. We knew that Ray was a “tough as nails” Mexican fighter who is also a long time sparring partner of WBO (Super) Welterweight Champion, Manny Pacquiao. Beltran sent Ricky crashing to the canvas in the 8th round with a trademark left hook however Ricky was able to beat the count and complete the remaining four rounds. It was reported that Ricky had been fighting with a broken jaw since the 2nd round which goes to show how courageous the Coatbridge fighter is. The decision went to the judge’s scorecards who ruled the fight as a draw enabling Ricky to retain his world title. No one believed that Ricky deserved to walk out the ring a champion, himself included and I honestly felt sorry for Ray Beltran. He may not have won the fight however Ray Beltran broke Ricky’s heart that night in Glasgow.

Burns recently declared himself bankrupt with debts of over £400,000 after a courtroom showdown with former promoter Frank Warren. His bout with Omar Figueroa couldn’t have come at a better time. It will give him some much needed financial stability and anything more than a loss is a bonus. Omar Figueroa will come to win against Ricky and he will want to put on a stellar performance against the Scotsman after coming through a tough test against Daniel Estrada in his last outing.

Omar himself wasn’t happy with his performance, “I didn’t think I did that great. It wasn’t up to par to what I expected” Figueroa added. Figueroa has a devastating right hand which is more than capable of putting anyone to sleep and is reflected in his previous 24 wins with 18 of them coming by way of knockout. I hope for Ricky’s sake that he has overcome his “fear” of boxing and can recapture some of the form that propelled him to the heights that his career once had. This week Ricky spoke to Tha Boxing Voice and told them that we should expect just that. “The Ricky from two years ago”. Watch the video below.

YouTube video

Catch me on twitter @misterness84



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