Ricky Burns looking forward to Omar Figueroa fight this Saturday

By Boxing News - 05/04/2015 - Comments

burns55By Scott Gilfoid: Britain’s Ricky Burns (37-4-1, 11 KOs) has a do or die fight this Saturday night against former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa (24-0-1, 18 KOs) on CBS from the State Farm Arena, in Hidalgo, Texas, USA. Although the 32-year-old Burns probably won’t admit that his career is on the brink of implosion after two losses in his last three fights, it’s the reality of the situation.

Burns’ career is really tanking since his controversial 12 round draw against Raymundo Beltran in September 2013. Beltran gave Burns a royal pounding, breaking his jaw and just battering him unmercifully for 12 rounds.

How Burns was able to walk out of that fight without a draw is anyone’s guess, but it was very, very troubling to see Burns escaping a loss in a fight in his own hometown of Glasgow, Scotland. I personally gave Burns only two rounds in that fight with one of the rounds being a gift round.

I really had Beltran winning 11 rounds to 1. Ignoring the bizarre scoring for that fight, Burns has looked terrible ever since then in losing to Terence Crawford and Dejan Zlaticanin. Burns did win his last fight though against some little known 2nd tier fighter named Alexandre Lepelley. It was good match-making by Burns’ promoter Eddie Hearn, but it was hardly a win to get excited about given how obscure Lepelley was. We’re not talking about a 1st tier fighter here with Lepelley.

“I can’t wait to fight in America, it’s something that I have always wanted to do and I can tick it off the list,” Burns said via Skysports.com. “This is such a huge fight for me. We wouldn’t have taken the fight if we didn’t think I can win it and I am confident that I will.”

Figueroa isn’t the best lightweight in the division, but he’s also not the worst. I rate him above Zlaticanin, a fighter who punished Burns in 2014 in beating him by a 12 round decision. I also rate Figueroa above Beltran, and we already saw what Beltran did to Burns in breaking his jaw and totally dominating him in 12 rounds in 2013. I think this fight could very well get out of hand quickly this Saturday night with Figueroa giving Burns a beating and possibly knocking him down three or four times depending on how much holding Burns down in the fight.
“I don’t want to contemplate defeat,” Burns said. “I am not thinking about it, but there’s no doubt that I need to win this to get back on track and into more big fights.”

I think it would be good for Burns to contemplate defeat because at least he could figure his next move ahead of time rather than waiting until he gets whipped by Figueroa to start thinking about what he can do with what’s left of his shattered career.



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