Burns vs. Cook this Saturday night

By Boxing News - 07/11/2011 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: World Boxing Organization (WBO) super featherweight champion Ricky Burns (31-2, 8 KO’s) will be making his third defense of his World Boxing Organization title next Saturday on July 16th against former WBO super featherweight champion Nicky Cook (30-2, 16 KO’s) at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.

It’s an unusual choice of an opponent for Burns, as Cook isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies in the super featherweight division as far as I can tell. Burns already has had two easy title defenses against little known opponents Andreas Evensen and Joseph Laryea and now this.

The good news is that Adrien Broner is ranked at number #6 by the WBO, so hopefully sooner or later Burns will have to face him or risk getting his title stripped from him once Broner gets to the no. 1 spot. I can see that happening real soon the way that Broner is tearing through his opposition.

Burns should beat Cook, but that’s not saying a whole lot. When you pick out 2nd tier opposition to defend your title against, I’d say you’re going to win most of the time. Cook hasn’t been all that active since getting taken out in the 4th round by Roman Martinez in 2009. Cook lost his WBO title in that fight and has fought only once since then, beating 8-33 journeyman Youssef Al Hamidi by a six round decision last May.

Hopefully, Burns will step it up a couple levels after this fight and take on Broner so we can finally see him fight someone really good. I don’t want to see Burns facing obscure people. It’s time he steps it up to see what he’s about.



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