By Scott Gilfoid: Sometimes losing a fight pays dividends for the losing fighter. That was never more apparent in Scotland’s Ricky Burns (37-5-1, 11 KOs) in him losing last Saturday to former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa Jr. (25-0-1, 18 KOs) in a 12 round unanimous decision defeat at the State Farm Arena, in Hidalgo, Texas, USA.
Burns clearly lost the fight by the scores of 116-110, 116-110 and 117-109 to a limited fighter in Figueroa, but Burns’ brawling type fighting style reportedly impressed some promoters in the U.S because they’re interested in bringing the 32-year-old fighter over to the U.S again as an opponent for their fighters.
“I had a brief discussion with Eddie [Hearn] today and Ricky has two good offers for fights in America,” Burns’ manager Alex Morrison said via sport.stv.tv. “Other promoters from the US watched Ricky’s fight in Texas on Saturday and they were impressed with what they saw of Ricky.”
Burns will be fighting next in August, but it might instead take place in Glasgow, Scotland. Burns is able to attract a lot of fans in Glasgow regardless of the fact that he’s no longer a world champion. The Scottish fans will likely come see him no matter who he faces.
I don’t know that Burns is going to be able to find any more success against another opponent than he did against Figueroa though. Like I said, Figueroa is a pretty limited fighter and if there was anyone that Burns would have had a good chance of beating, it would be him. But sadly, Burns couldn’t even beat him, and that’s kind of where he’s at right now with his career.
If Morrison puts Burns in with a good lightweight or light welterweight, things likely won’t go too well. Even if they select a fringe contender or a 2nd tier fighter, it’s still going to tough for Burns to get the win because he doesn’t have much in the way of punching power, and that makes him vulnerable against even mediocre fighters.
What I saw from Burns last Saturday with his brawling tactics was him throwing a lot of punches that landed to the back of Figueroa’s head. Those punches were seen by anyone that saw the Burns-Figueroa fight. Throwing those shots made the fight possess drama because of the high number that Burns threw. I was both surprised that Figueroa was able to take those kinds of punches without getting hurt, and with the referee for not stopping the action to penalize Burns for throwing those punches.
“His next fight could be in Glasgow. I think by the end of next week we’ll know what Ricky will be doing next,” Morrison said.
Burns will likely move back down to the lightweight division for his next fight, even though he complained that he barely made the 140 pound limit for his light welterweight fight against Figueroa. I think Burns will have problems making the lightweight limit if he chooses to fight at lightweight next. He probably should move up to 140. He won’t be able to compete against the big punchers in that division, but at least he’ll be able to make weight.
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