Ricky Burns vs. Michele Di Rocco for vacant WBA 140lb title

By Boxing News - 05/23/2016 - Comments

Ricky Burns

By Scott Gilfoid: In a real head shaker, #7 WBA Ricky Burns (39-5-1, 13 KOs) will be fighting #1 WBA Michele Di Rocco (40-1-1, 18 KOs) for the vacant WBA light welterweight title this Saturday night on May 28 at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. It’s one of those fights that makes you wonder what’s going on in the heads of the sanctioning bodies.

Burns, 33, has lost two out of his last five fights, and he hasn’t beaten anyone of real quality since his victory over Jose Gonzalez three years ago in 2013. Burns’ recent wins over Josh King and Prince Ofotsu were nothing to get excited about.

The last time I checked, King and Ofotsu are not major players in the 140lb division. As such, it doesn’t quite make sense for the World Boxing Association to be letting Burns fight for their vacant title against a fighter with a pumped up resume over fluff opposition in 34-year-old Di Rocco.

“It’s always a great night up here and Di Rocco isn’t going to know what’s hit him when he walks out on Saturday night,” said Burns via skysports.com. “I’ve been boxing away from home a lot and not really been in Glasgow much so it’s great to be back.”

The last time Burns fought in Glasgow, he was whipped by Dejan Zlaticanin by a one-sided 12 round decision in 2014. Since then, Burns has fighting all over the place against largely weak opposition. Burns lost to Omar Figueroa Jr. in 2015 in a clinch-filled performance by Burns. His only wins in the last two years have come against Josh King, Ofotsu and Alexandre Lepelley. In other words, Burns has gone after the soft jobs and the WBA has given a green light for him to fight for a world title.

To me, it’s like Burns flunked a calculus test in school and now he’s being given his diploma after taking a couple basic math classes rather than going back and retaking the class and moving forward. I think the WBA should have nixed the idea of Burns and Di Rocco fighting for their WBA light welterweight title, and instead had #3 WBA Ruslan Provodnikov battle someone like #5 Adrian Granados or the highly talented Kiryl Relikh (21-0, 19 KOs).

The 26-year-old Relikh from Belarus is looking great in his fights thus far, and I think he’s worlds better than Burns and Di Rocco in the talent department. The fact that the WBA has Relikh ranked below Di Rocco at No.4 in their organization is troubling, because that’s a ridiculous ranking in my view. It’s like how the IBF recently had Errol Spence Jr. ranked below Kevin Bizier and Jo Jo Dan. Talk about your crazy rankings.

As far as the Burns vs. Di Rocco fight goes, I see Burns winning. That’s not because Burns has gotten any better since his losses to Zlaticanin, Figueroa and Terence Crawford. It’s more of a case of Di Rocco being a mediocre fighter with what I see as an inflated ranking with the WBA.

If you take a look at the 34-year-old Di Rocco’s resume, you’ll note that it’s filled with guys that are just not good fighters. The type of guys that Di Rocco has been fighting during his career are guys that you would see prospects fighting at the very start of their careers, not a 12-year pro fighting. Di Rocco started his career in 2004 and has been a pro for 12 years now. In his last 10 fights, Di Rocco has beaten the following fighters:

Alexandre Lepelley

Kasper Bruun

Ruben Nieto

Istvan Kiss

Ville Piispanen

Lenny Daws

Lazlo Robert Balogh

Giuseppe Lauri

Lazlo Szekeres

Robert Cristea

Look at those names. Those are not major world level fighters. There all 2nd tier guys, and I do not understand how or why the WBA would give Di Rocco a number one ranking with their organization after those wins. Let me repeat; those were Di Rocco’s LAST 10 OPPONENTS, not his first 10 of his career. How in the heck can the WBA give Di Rocco a No.1 ranking with their organization off recent wins over those guys. I mean, where is the quality? Show me one fighter out of those ten names that was a big enough name for Di Rocco to be given a number one ranking with the WBA over talents like Relikh and Provodnikov.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlCxB3v1KDg

I won’t have much respect for the winner of the Burns vs. Di Rocco fight because I won’t see him as a real champion. When you’ve got a fight with guys that have padded records and/or a lot of recent losses, then how is it that they’re fighting for a world title over arguably more talented fighters? I don’t understand it. It would have made sense for the WBA to have Burns fighting for their title if it were four years ago before he started getting whipped on a routine basis when he would step it up against talented fighters, but not in 2016 with Burns only having beaten weaker opposition in confidence booster type of fights.