Ricky Burns vs. Julius Indongo in the works

Image: Ricky Burns vs. Julius Indongo in the works

By Scott Gilfoid: A unification fight between WBA World light welterweight champion Ricky Burns (41-5-1, 14 KOs) and newly crowned IBF 140lb champion Julius Indongo (21-0, 11 KOs) in the works, according to Fight News. The 33-year-old Indongo stopped former IBF champion Eduard Troyanovsky in the 1st round on December 3 in Moscow, Russia to capture his IBF title.

This is a pretty clever move on Burns’ part to be going after Indongo. You can argue the idea is for Burns to beat the flawed Indongo, and then vacate his IBF title as quickly as possible to avoid having to fight Rances Barthlemy and get knocked out by him.

read more

Ricky Burns vs. Paulie Malignaggi possible for March

Image: Ricky Burns vs. Paulie Malignaggi possible for March

By Allan Fox: WBA World light welterweight champion Ricky Burns (41-5-1, 14 KOs) could be facing 36-year-old former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi in March at the SSE Hydro, in Glasgow, Scotland. The fight is one of the two options for Burns. The other option a unification fight between Burns and IBF 140lb champion Julius Indongo (21-0, 11 KOs), who recently stopped champion Eduard Troyanovskiy in the 1st round to capture his IBF belt.

Burns will take the best paying fight of the two. Burns was supposed to be fighting former four division world champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner, but he decided to fight Adrian Granados in a fight in February.

read more

Boxing overlooked by BBC

Image: Boxing overlooked by BBC

By Gav Duthie: Once again boxing has been snubbed as a sports by Britains BBC ‘Sports personality of the year awards’. Pound for pound the UK is probably more successful with boxing than any other sport yet rarely gets a mention. Carl Frampton recently unleashed a tirade against the BBC branding it ‘anti-boxing’ and ‘anti Northern Irish’. As for the boxing comment I can’t disagree, Frampton achieved super stardom this year yet has no nomination for the award. As a result I thought I would give my own UK Boxing personality award for the year.

read more

Burns won’t fight Broner until mid-2017

burns8

By Scott Gilfoid: WBA World light welterweight champion Ricky Burns (41-5-1, 14 KOs) says he won’t be fighting former four division world champion Adrien Broner (32-2, 24 Kos) until mid-2017. Broner, 27, has a fight on February 11 against contender Adrian Granados (18-4-2, 12 KOs) at a still to be determined venue. That’s not going to be an easy fight for Broner, but he’s still expected to win.

A fight between Burns and Broner would be a nice payday for both of them. It would be a very tough fight for the 33-year-old Burns to win, because he’s not much of a puncher to speak. Broner would likely walk him down and chop him to pieces. Burns was fortunate to win his last fight against #1 WBA Kiryl Relikh last October in their fight at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

read more

Hatton: Relikh did enough to beat Burns

relikh

By Scott Gilfoid: Trainer Ricky Hatton believes that his fighter Kiryl Relikh (21-1, 19 KOs) did enough to deserve a narrow 12 round unanimous decision against WBA World 140lb champion Ricky Burns (41-5-1, 14 KOs) last Saturday night at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. Like a lot of boxing fans, Hatton was absolutely shocked at the dreadful scores handed down by the three judges that worked the fight.

Here are the score from the three judges: Raul Caiz Sr.116-112, Jesus Cova 118-110, and Terry O’Connor 116-112. Here is the score from Gilfoid: 112-112 for Relikh. With the blown call on the knockdown that occurred in the 12th round in which Burns was dropped, I would have had my score even wider for Relikh, but the referee Howard John Foster missed the knockdown.

read more

Hearn wants Burns-Broner in December

burns8

By Scott Gilfoid: Following a very, very controversial win over Kiryl Relikh (21-1, 19 KOs) last Friday night, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says he’d like to have his fighter WBA light welterweight champion Ricky Burns (41-5-1, 14 KOs) defend his title against American Adrien Broner fight for December in Las Vegas, Nevada if possible.

Hearn thinks it’ll be a huge fight, and he believes it needs to be made. The only question is Hearn’s mind is whether Burns’ damaged eardrum will allow him to take the fight. Burns suffered the injury early in his questionable 12 round unanimous decision win over the 26-year-old Relikh at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

read more

Burns talks Relikh and Broner fights

burns

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.

read more

Ricky Burns vs. Kiryl Relikh results

YouTube video

By Scott Gilfoid: WBA World light welterweight champion Ricky Burns (41-5-1, 14 Kos) defeated #1 WBA challenger Kiryl Relikh (21-1, 19 KOs) by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision on Friday night at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. The judges scored the fight 118-110, 116-112, and 116-112 for Burns. Relikh had Burns hurt in the 11th and 12th rounds. Burns was gassed, hurt and totally ineffective in the last two rounds of the contest. You can argue that Burns was done after the 8th, because Relikh swept rounds 9 through 12 on my scorecard. If you count those four rounds with the first two rounds, then Relikh deserved a draw. But I had Relikh winning other rounds as well, so he should have won. Relikh did win and quite easily in my opinion.

read more

Relikh will beat Burns tonight, says Hatton

burns97

By Scott Gilfoid: If trainer Ricky Hatton gets his wish, unbeaten #1 WBA challenger Kiryl Relikh (21-0, 19 KOs) will send WBA World light welterweight champion Ricky Burns (40-5-1, 14 KOs) skittering down to defeat tonight in their match at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. Hatton thinks the 26-year-old Relikh will break some hearts tonight by beating the hometown fighter Burns. Relikh is a NATURAL light welterweight unlike Burns, who has slowly eaten his way into the division. Power-wise, Burns is more of a super featherweight. He doesn’t have a light welterweight frame like Relikh.

Hatton just hopes that after Relikh beats Burns, he’ll be able to keep his many fans in Scotland. Relikh has the punching power, size and the youth to whip Burns like Dejan Zlaticanin did two years ago in 2014. The only question is does Relikh have the boxing skills and the talent to do the job.

read more

Burns vs. Relikh official weights

burns200

By Scott Gilfoid: Ricky Burns (40-5-1, 14 KOs) made weight on Thursday in coming in at 139.2 pounds for his title defense against #1 WBA challenger Kiryl Relikh (21-0, 19 KOs) for their match this Friday night at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. The young lion Relikh weighed in at 140lbs at the light welterweight limit. Of the two, I’d say Relikh looked to be the healthier, more youthful and ready for combat on Friday night.

We already know that Relikh has the better punching power of the two, so there’s no arguing about that. The only thing we don’t know about Relikh is whether he can score a knockout over the 33-year-old Burns, because he may need one.

read more