Burns: People think I’m just an opponent for Figueroa

By Boxing News - 05/08/2015 - Comments

Omar Figueroa and Ricky BurnsBy Scott Gilfoid: Scotland native Ricky Burns (37-4-1, 11 KOs) is all bent out of shape that he’s seen as the sacrificial lamb for Saturday’s fight against former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa (24-0-1, 18 KOs) in their fight at the State Farm Arena, in Hidalgo, Texas, USA.

The 32-year-old Burns wants fans to know that he’s coming to beat the 25-year-old Figueroa on Saturday and pull off a big upset. Burns has lost two out of his last three fights, and looked awful in every sense of the word. Just how he plans on beating a talent like Figueroa is anyone’s guess.

“Some people think I’ve come over here just to be an opponent but that’s not the case,” Burns said via Dailymail.co.uk. “I had a bad year but it’s all behind me. I’m going to get back to my winning ways.”

What I want to know is how can Burns be so certain that his problems from 2014 are behind him? I mean, how do you know if the problems are behind you when all you’ve done is spar in the gym and workout with your trainer? It could very well be that the problems are going to keep following Burns no matter what he tries. Burns was whipped by Terence Crawford and Dejan Zlaticanin in 2014.

Finally, Burns’ promoter Eddie Hearn has to resort to matching him against a 2nd tier fighter named Alexandre Lepelley to stop his losing streak. If not for that, I imagine the losing streak would have stretched to three straight fights. Heck, you can make an argument that the losing streak should be 4 straight fights because Burns 12 round draw against Raymundo Beltran in September 2013 was a loss for Burns in my view. I saw Burns winning one to two rounds in that fight against Beltran. The bout took place in Burns’ hometown of Glasgow, Scotland.

“As that first bell goes that’s when it’s going to count. It’s just me and him in that ring,” Burns said.

Burns says it’s going to be just him and Figueroa in the ring on Saturday, but that’s the whole problem. Burns is going to be in there with a young talent with a lot of power and an ability to throw nonstop punches. Burns isn’t going to be able to use arm-bars all night long to try and stop Figueroa from unloading on him with everything but the kitchen sink because that’s not going to work.

I hate to say it but I see this fight going really badly for Burns. I think it’s going to be a near massacre with Figueroa really having his way against a routed foe. I just hope the referee doesn’t wait too long before he stops this one.



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