By Sean McDaniel: World Boxing Organization (WBO) super featherweight champion Ricky Burns (29-2, 7 KO’s) defends his title against #3 WBO contender Andreas Evensen (13-1, 5 KO’s) this Saturday night at the Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland. By choosing the little known Evensen, Burns is in a good position to win this fight. Evensen has faced mostly obscure opponents during his four-year career and it’s strange that he’s ranked at the number 3 spot by the WBO when he hasn’t really faced anyone.

In terms of overall super featherweights, it would be hard to argue that Evensen even belongs in the top 20 in the division. For this reason, Burns should win this fight and keep his title whole longer. Unfortunately, waiting for Burns after this fight is #1 contender Terdsak Jandseng, who is probably more than good enough to beat Burns and take his title from him.

Burns defeated WBO champion Roman Martinez in a big 12 round upset win in his last fight in September. Burns was dropped in the 1st round, but was able to get back on his feet and outwork Martinez the rest of the way using uppercuts and inside fighting to get the better of the lethargic looking Martinez. It was learned afterwards that Martinez had problems making weight and had been forced to take off a massive amount of weight to make the super featherweight limit before the fight. That could explain Martinez’s weak appearance and his lack of energy in the later rounds of the fight. Burns had the better conditioning and had a loud crowd backing him at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland.

On Saturday night, Burns will have a huge crowd backing him against Evensen, but he won’t likely need it because he should win this fight without any problems. Evensen should be down in the pack and not at #3 at super featherweight.