By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is saying that WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns’ promoter offered a fight between Burns against Hearns’ fighter #8 WBO, British, European Boxing Union lightweight champion Gavid Rees (37-1-1, 18 KO’s). However, Hearn said it as too low of an offer and he’s not interested in that fight for that kind of money.
Speaking with IFilm London, Hearn said “They [Burns + promoter] made us [Rees] an offer to fight Gavin Rees. it’s a horrendous offer. We have options all kinds of stuff…They made us an offer for tiny money, less than what we’re paying for European title fights. So that’s why that fight can’t happen.”
Instead of putting his fighter Rees in with Burns, Hearn plans on possibly matching Rees up with the winner of the Prizefighter lightweight tourney this Saturday night with Gary Sykes, Tommy Coyle, Anthony Crolla, Stephen Jennings, Terry Flannigan, Patrick Walsh, Derry Mathews and Jamie Spence.
Somehow I knew that Rees would be offered the fight with Burns instead of a higher ranked fighter, even though the World Boxing Organization president already said that Burns had to fight his #1 mandatory next. The last time I checked, Rees isn’t Burns mandatory challenger. I wonder how that would have went had Rees been selected. It would have put the WBO in the position to step and not let that fight take place or just back off an let it happen.
I figured that Burns would be taking on another British fighter, and it looks like I could be right. If Rees doesn’t get the fight with Burns then there’s only one of two options for Burns unless Burns’ promoter starts looking at the super featherweight or light welterweight divisions for Burns’ next fight. It’ll likely be John Murray or Liam Walsh that ends up facing Burns on December 15th.
I don’t know how Murray can get the fight because he’s not even ranked in the top 15 in the lightweight division, but these things have a way of working themselves out. I don’t want to see Burns beat up Murray. We already saw Murray get whipped by Kevin Mitchell and Brandon Rios. It’s not even interesting to think about seeing Murrayu fight anyone else at this point because he’s taken too many beatings recently.
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