Burns targeting 37-year-old Fana

By Boxing News - 03/13/2011 - Comments

Image: Burns targeting 37-year-old FanaBy William Mackay: WBO super featherweight champion Ricky Burns (31-2, 8 KO’s) is targeting 37-year-old South African IBF super featherweight champion Mzonke Fana (30-4, 12 KO’s) in a unification bout next after beating #11 ranked WBO contender Joseph Laryea (14-5, 11 KO’s) in a 7th round stoppage in an optional defense last Saturday night at the Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland.

The victory was pretty much a foregone conclusion as soon as the fight was signed, because Laryea was ranked down far in the pack for a reason because he’s limited, and doesn’t throw a lot of punches. Rather than taking on a better opponent, Laryea was selected and of course he was beaten. The fight was dull and one-sided for the most part, with Layrea only looking good in the 4th, the only round he really let his hands go.

After that, he stopped throwing rights hands almost completely and Burns was able to have his way with him until Laryea failed to come out for the 8th due to a hand injury. It’s interesting that Burns is now looking at fighting 37-year-old Fana instead of someone like WBA champion Takashi Uchiyama, because this guy is considered to be the best fighter in the entire division by many boxing fans, not Fana.

Other fighters that I would rate well ahead of Fana are Robert Guerrero, Jason Litzau, Takashiro Aoh, Jorge Linares, Jorge Solis and Roman Martinez. Fana is more of a paper champion in my mind. Burns should look elsewhere, because he just fought two consecutive obscure fighters in Andreas Evensen and Layrea, and now he’s going after what looks to be the weakest of the super featherweight champions instead of the best.



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