Burns vs. Katsidis: Ricky sees this as difficult fight for him

By Boxing News - 09/29/2011 - Comments

Image: Burns vs. Katsidis: Ricky sees this as difficult fight for himBy Scott Gilfoid: There’s a real big question mark about former WBO super featherweight champion Ricky Burns (32-2, 9 KO’s) as he heads towards his fight against the hard hitting Michael Katsidis (28-4, 23 KO’s) for the the interim WBO lightweight title on November 5th at the Wembley Arena in London, England.

Burns, 28, recently vacated his World Boxing Organization super featherweight title when faced with his first highly skilled challenger in unbeaten Adrien Broner, who Burns was supposed to be fighting in November in the United States. Few boxing fans gave Burns much of any chance to beat the talented Broner.

So instead of taking on Broner after having defended his title with three easy defenses against mediocre opposition, Burns vacated the belt. Burns says he was having a hard time making the weight. Fair enough, but you must admit that having to face a marvelous talent like Broner likely gave Burns some sleepless nights and could have hurried his decision to move up in weight rather than take his chances against the blazing fast and powerful Broner.

Now Burns has an equally tough fight in Katsidis, who isn’t as fast or as skilled as Broner, but packs a little bit more of a wallop with every punch. Broner can throw with incredible power when he loads up, but Katsidis punches that way every time he throws with his left hand. Katsidis’ right hand isn’t as powerful, but still much more powerful than Burns’ weak shots.

Burns said this to Sky Sports News: “It was getting harder and harder to make weight. It’s only five pounds of a difference but it makes a big difference…I will be so much stronger.”

Yeah, yeah, I heard all before. Blame it on the weight. It’s unusual for a fighter to vacate his belt when facing the biggest test – and likely the biggest payday – of his career. Let’s hope that Burns doesn’t back out of this fight against Katsidis in following weeks.

Katsidis said “I didn’t know too much about Ricky until I saw him on YouTube, then realized I would be in for a more difficult fight than I first thought. I am in for a tough fight.”

Burn’s come forward fighting style is made to order for Katsidis. Burns fights like a slugger, but lacks the power that sluggers have. He’s done well up to this point, albeit against mostly domestic level opposition in the UK. Katsidis will be a huge step up for Burns and I expect him to fail miserably.



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