By Sean McDaniel: Earlier tonight, WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (34-2, 9 KO’s) easily took care of business by beating #4 WBO challenger Paulus Moses (28-2, 19 KO’s) beating him by a 12 lopsided rounds to win a 12 round unanimous decision at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland. The win was decisive and impressive enough for the 28-year-old Burns to move forward to his next bout in the summer against #1 WBO contender and former British super featherweight and WBO Inter-Continental lightweight champion Kevin Mitchell (33-1, 24 KO’s).

The Mitchell fight could be the toughest fight of Burns’ career, because Mitchell brings a lot to the table in terms of power, speed, movement and overall boxing ability that Burns simply hasn’t had to face before during his 11-year pro career. Burns may have faced guys with one of those qualities such as being powerful, but he’s never fought a fighter with all of those qualities in one package.

It’s going to be tough on Burns and he’s going to have to look a lot better than he did tonight in order for him to beat Mitchell. Burns looked bored and disinterested in beating the 33-year-old Moses tonight. He fought without passion at times and dominated but didn’t really impress to the point where you could say without a doubt that he’d beat Mitchell. I think it’s a toss-up fight right now despite Burns having had a lot of success against number of good – but limited – fighters overall. Mitchell would have likely swept the same opposition that Burns has faced during the past two years if he had fought the same guys. Burns, 5’10”, would have a two inch height advantage over Mitchell, but that’s about it in terms of advantages. Mitchell is faster with better power and has better ring movement. Burns may have a better jab, though, and if he’s able to clinch Mitchell on the inside all night long like he was able to do with Moses, it might be tough for Mitchell to win.