https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-fpmU6JZnw

By Scott Gilfoid: Former two division world champion Ricky Burns (39-5-1, 13 KOs) and his opponent #1 WBA Michele Di Rocco (40-1-1, 18 KOs) successfully weighed in on Friday for their clash for the vacant WBA 140lb title on Saturday night at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

#7 WBA Burns weighed in at 139.125 pounds, and the 34-year-old Di Rocco came in at slightly heavier at 139.25lbs. Both fighters were under the 140lb limit for the light welterweight division.

Burns and Di Rocco will be fighting for Adrien Broner’s former WBA 140lb title, which he lost before his last fight against Ashley Theophane last April when he weighed in one-half pound over the light welterweight limit at 140.5lbs. You cannot blame Broner for coming in heavy because he had many stressors going on in his life outside of the ring at the time in terms of his legal problems.

Burns, 33, has already made it clear that he would like to face Broner next if he can capture the WBA title on Saturday night against Di Rocco. Burns had a chance to fight Broner when the two of them were fighting at super featherweight, but instead of taking the fight, Burns moved up in weight to lightweight. It turned out to be a mistake for Burns not to have taken the bout because he was soon beaten by Terence Crawford, Dejan Zlaticanin and Omar Figueroa Jr.

Still, it was a mistake for Burns not to have taken the payday fight against Broner because the money he would have made against him would have been substantial even if he’d lost the fight. I’m sure that if Burns had the chance of going back in history in a time machine, he’d have taken the Broner fight in a heartbeat because it was a no-brainer to take that option.

A win over Di Rocco on Saturday will give Burns his third division world title, and it’ll enable him to accomplish what a lot of other former world champions from the UK have never done. Burns may not be as popular as some of the British fighters that have gone on to win world titles, but he’s slowly accomplishing more than them by sticking around and being put in the right fights.

If Broner hadn’t been stripped of his WBA light welterweight title, there would be no real opportunity for Burns to win a third division world title. I mean, I can’t see Burns ever beating a talent like Broner, and I think it goes without saying that Burns would never beat the other champions in the light welterweight division in Viktor Postol, Terence Crawford and Eduard Troyanovskiy. Those are very good fighters. Many boxing fans aren’t familiar with Troyanovskiy at this point, but he clearly is an excellent fighter and I don’t think Burns would stand a chance against him. But with the things have gone with the WBA title opening up, Burns has a golden opportunity for him to win another division world title.

It doesn’t get any easier than this. Di Rocco is a mediocre fighter in my view. I see Burns having a pretty easy time beating the brakes off this guy. Di Rocco struggled badly recently to defeat Lenny Daws and Ruben Nieto in close fights. He got the victories in each case, but those were very competitive matches. I don’t rate Daws and Nieto, which is why it’s troubling that the WBA has Di Rocco rated as No.1 with their organization.

I don’t agree with that rating. Heck, I don’t even see Di Rocco as a bottom feeder at No.15. He’s 2nd tier all the way with me. When you face the kind of gawd awful opposition that Di Rocco has faced throughout his 12-year pro career, you don’t rate a top 15 ranking in my opinion. There’s been a failure to launch with Di Rocco’s career for some reason, and now he’ being given a gift world title shot which I don’t think he deserves.

“We’re confident we’re going out there to do a job,” said Burns to skysports.com. “Everybody’s going to see the Ricky Burns who always turns up to fight, gives it everything. I never back down and when it gets tough I’m always prepared to go toe-to-toe. I’m hungrier than ever. Back in Glasgow, I’m looking forward to going out there and getting the win. How’s he going to handle Glasgow and how’s he going to handle me? He’s going to find it tough in there.”

Well, the reason why Di Rocco will have it tough in there won’t be due to the pro-Burns crowd in Glasgow. The reason is that Di Rocco is out of his league in this fight. Burns is simply a much better fighter than Di Rocco, and it’s going to be obvious from the start. Di Rocco hasn’t been fighting world class opposition during his career, and now suddenly he’s going to be fighting his first world class guy in his own home city. It’s just a bad setup for Di Rocco.

Prediction: Burns by lopsided 12 round unanimous decision.