Scotland has a new Burns night to celebrate

By Gavin Duthie - 05/30/2016 - Comments

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By Gav Duthie: Like a movie script the man who thought he’d lost it all found triumph through adversity. Generally in sport and in life it is uncommon to roll back the years and succeed when failure is expected. It is certainly the norm as a Scot painfully watching the tragic heroes fall at the final hurdle in football, rugby or whatever we seemingly take our hand to.

Ricky Burns Riches to rags, bankruptcy, fallen idol story seemed all too familiar for Scots but his determination to succeed embodies everything a small nation stands for. Criticize his opponent, question the legitimacy all you want but the fact remains Ricky Burns is now one of less than 50 men who have won world titles in 3 different weight divisions.

3-weight champ

The amount of anarchy Burns has been through since his 2nd world title win in 2012 and his 3rd in 2016 is enough to make a movie. After his then promoter Frank Warren failed to deliver a unification bout (despite confirming it) against Miguel Vasquez (IBF 135lb champ at the time) Ricky moved to the emerging promoter Matchroom boxing as did many others due to the exclusive Sky Sports contract. Instead of a unification bout in London Ricky fought his mandatory Jose A Gonzalez in Glasgow and scraped a 9th round stoppage win after a big scare. Ricky also had his first child and ended up in a legal dispute with Frank Warren over his contract and future earnings. Despite a big payday in his loss to future pound for pound star Terrence Crawford he was declared bankrupt following further losses to Dejan Zlaticanin and Omar Figueroa Jnr. Di Rocco may not have belonged at world level but if Burns was past it he certainly didn’t show it with a dominant display throughout.

Good company

Ricky joins an exclusive list of fighters who have won world titles at 130, 135 and 140lbs respectively in Hector Camacho, Julio Cesar Chavez, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Adrien Broner. Burns is also only the third Brit behind Bob Fitszimmons (First ever triple champ in boxing in 1903) and Duke McKenzie (1992) and he is the first Scot to achieve this feat.

Next Up?

Raymundo Beltran (Rematch) 30-7-1 (18)

It would be a great way for Burns to close the door on his turbulent few years as the origin point seemed to be when he broke his jaw against the tough Raymundo Beltran. Ricky was lucky to get a draw that night. Since then Beltran has had two more cracks at an elusive title. The first a lopsided defeat against Terrence Crawford and a farcical second where despite knocking out Takahiro Ao for the vacant WBO title he failed to make weight and then subsequently failed a drug test so his win was ruled a no contest. He is back from his ban and won last week in the Super Lightweight division.

Omar Figueroa Jnr (rematch) 26-0-1 (18)

Burns actually enhanced his reputation with this loss to Figueroa Jnr in Texas. It was one of the fights of the year in 2015 and fans would love to see it again. Figueroa is ranked #6 with the WBA so it is certainly a fight that can be made.

Adrien Broner 32-2 (24)

Ricky has just won Broner’s belt as the American failed to defend it as he came in at 140.4 lbs for his bout v Brit Ashley Theophane. Broner and Burns have been like ships passing in the night for 5 years as both were simultaneous champions at Super Featherweight and Lightweight. Unification bouts were talked about but never materialized. Burns has said he would love to fight him if he can get his finger out and make the weight.

Lamont Peterson 34-3-1 (17)

Slightly less likely but just as lucrative. Peterson is in a bit of no mans land at the moment. His IBF Super Lightweight title was stripped when he fought Danny Garcia at a 143lb catch-weight. His comeback win over Felix Diaz Jnr was also between weight divisions and the man himself says he can fight at either 140 or 147lbs.

Ruslan Provodnikov 25-4 (18)

The ‘Russian Rocky’ is all action all entertainment and would be a great fight for the fans. Provo would be happy to fight anywhere and be keen to come to Scotland for Burns. Provodnikov has a war scheduled with John Molina on June 11th but if he gets through that it would be a legitimate option considering he has ranked #3 with the WBA.

Lucas Matthyse 37-4 (34)

Another war if this was to take place but the Argentine is having problems with an eye injury he suffered against Viktor Postol. Matthyse is arguably the best fighter around not to have won a world title and at 33 Burns could be a final chance.

Anthony Crolla 31-4-3 (13)

In the post fight Di Rocco interview Burns also said that fighting at lightweight was still an option as he can make the weight easily. This opens up a contest with WBA lightweight champion Crolla who is also promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sports. This would be a fairly lucrative bout in Glasgow or Manchester.

Ricky Burns post-fight press conference.