By Scott Gilfoid: Moments after winning a HIGHLY controversial 12 round unanimous decision against the big punching Kiryl Relikh (21-1, 19 KOs) on Friday night, WBA World light welterweight champion Ricky Burns (41-5-1, 14 KOs) was reveling about his win, and already squawking about wanting to fight American Adrien “The Problem” Broner. Burns, 33, says he’ll take the fight with Broner, and he would even come to the U.S to face him, as long as the “money is right.” That’s the entire problem.
Broner vs. Burns would likely not sell in the U.S. You put that fight on pay-per-view, and I doubt that it would even interest casual boxing fans if it were televised on regular Showtime. Burns is an unknown with casual fans of the sport.
Broner is more than a little eager for the Burns fight, saying on his social media site tonight: December can’t come no faster!!!!
Broner is like a shark, which can smell blood in the water, and he wants to go after Burns to finish him off. The fight is five years overdue. Broner was Burns’ mandatory challenger in 2011, when they were both fighting at super featherweight. Burns then vacated his WBO title and moved up to lightweight rather than fight Broner. It was a crazy move by Burns, because he would have gotten a big payday for the fight. I understood it though. I smelled fear in that move from Burns. If he had confidence in himself, do you really think he would have vacated his WBO title instead of fighting Broner? I don’t think so.
As I was saying, Burns’ win over the powerful hitter Relikh was HIGHLY controversial tonight with their fight at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. Burns won the fight by the following judges’ scores: 118-110, 116-112 and 116-116. I watched the Burns-Relikh fight for a second time with the sound off, and I had Relikh winning 116-112. That’s the best I could do for Burns. Even then, I was being generous, because there were a couple of rounds that I thought should have gone to Relikh, but I gave them to Burns due to the fight being in his hometown. Those were mercy rounds as far as I’m concerned. Relikh DOMINATED Burns, and the final scores were a tragedy. I can only imagine what Relikh and his trainer Ricky Hatton are feeling right now after this fight.
Burns said to skysports.com:
“I have to say that Relikh can really whack and he caught me with a couple of big shots early on. He could whack! I know people go on about big punchers but there were some thudding punches. We stuck to the game-plan though, stuck to boxing and I’m pleased with myself that I never got dragged into the fight. I got the win, that’s the main thing. And now we’re onto the next one.”
On to the next one, Burns says. I think I speak for a lot of boxing fans unhappy with the results of tonight’s fight when I say there would be a rematch. Burns did not pass the test. I think he failed it! I gave Burns an ‘F’ for his performance. All that ugly clinching, head-locks, arm-bars and rabbit punches from Burns, it was too much.
The referee Howard John Foster should have stepped in and did the right thing by taking points away from Burns. I’m just saying. The fight would have been so much better if Foster had taken away two or three points from Burns for all that gawd awful holding, running and rabbit shots he was landing. The point deductions would have been an attention getter for Burns. He might have then gotten a clue and actually started fighting Relikh instead of holding and running all night long.
“The last couple of rounds I could hear the crowd singing away,” said Burns. “The support I get up here is unbelievable. I know they’re talking about these big fights happening next, possibly in America, but imagine getting them over here. It would be something else!”
Yeah, the pro-Burns crowd was yapping like mad in in rounds 11 and 12, but I don’t think it helped him.
By that point in the fight, Burns looked punch drunk from eating some massive shots from Relikh. He wasn’t in the position to land much of anything. Burns tried to land his shots, but the young 26-year-old Relikh easily avoided Burns shots and continued to pelt him with shots to the head and body. Relikh nailed Burns with a series of triple left hooks to the body in the 11th and 12th rounds that really took the air out of Burns.
When Relikh landed those shots, Burns’ reaction was one of pain with him retreating. It wasn’t even a fight after Relikh hurt Burns with a Hatton-esque triple left hook in the 11th round. It was beautiful to watch. Relikh threw those shots better than Hatton had in his career and with more power. I’m just wondering why Relikh waited so long to get close enough to Burns to land those triple left hooks, because if he threw those punches earlier in the fight, he likely would have had hi wilting early instead of late.
Burns said to IFL TV:
“He’s definitely one of the biggest punchers I’ve ever been in with,” Burns said about Relikh. “He caught me. I thought he bust my ear drum. I knew the rounds were close. Some rounds, he was busier, but I was landing the cleaner shots. I’m still champion. Adrien Broner, he’s dying for the fight. I would love to fight him. That would be a hard, hard fight. If they want me to come to America to fight him, I’d be prepared to do it, but the money’s got to be right for me to do it. 100 percent, I’m game for it, as long as the money’s right.”
Like I was saying, there’s no money in a fight between Broner and Burns in the U.S. It would have to take place in the UK for it to become a reality. Broner isn’t a pay-per-view attraction in the U.S, and I doubt that he ever will be.