By Scott Gilfoid: #3 WBO, Raymundo Beltran (28-6-1, 17 KO’s) says he knows exactly what to expect from WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-2-1, 11 KO’s) in their rematch this March in Glasgow, Scotland, if the fight gets made. Beltran figures that Burns will use the same fight strategy that he used last time with Burns running and clinching constantly without receiving warnings or point deductions from the referee for the excessive holing.
Beltran totally dominated Burns in their fight last September in Scotland, but the judges scored it a 12 round draw by the following scores: 115-112 for Burns, 114-114, and 115-113 for Beltran. Two of those scores were as bad as the one judge that scored the Floyd Maywather Jr. vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez a draw. There was nothing close at all about the Beltran-Burns fight.
It was all Beltran stalking and landing his power shots for 12 rounds. The only thing Burns was doing was clinching and running. It was a terrible sight to see, especially how the referee failed to take points off from Burns for the god awful holding he was doing.
Beltran told Livefight “I kind of know and kind of expect what Ricky is gonna do next time so I wanna get for that. He only has one thing he can do. He can’t have another game plan because if he does it’s gonna be even worse for him. If he stands and fights with me, it gives me more opportunities and he knows that. He’s not gonna stand in front of me”
Of course Burns won’t be standing in front of him and trading. Oh yeah, I see Burns trying to exchange with Beltran in the 1st or 2nd rounds, but once he tastes his power shots to the head and body, Burns will revert to form and start running for the hills to keep from getting blasted out. It’ll be a repeat of the last fight with Beltran nailing Burns each time he can catch up to him, and then having to deal with Burns constant clinching. Do I see the referee giving Burns warnings or point deductions for his clinching? Nope, I don’t see it. I just hope Burns doesn’t clinch 10+ times per round because that’ll make the fight all but unwatchable. Beltran will have Burns around his neck each time he turns around and he’ll figure something out if he wants to get his shots off.
The best way for Beltran to keep Burns from clinching 24/7 is to keep nailing him with hard body shots while being held. I think Beltran needs to watch Deontay Wilder’s recent fight against Nicolai Firtha to get a good strategy with what to do with someone that is trying to hug you. Deontay opened up with a flurry while being held and he really got Firtha’s attention. Thankfully, we didn’t see anymore clinches from Firtha after that one time, and I suspect that he didn’t want to give Deontay another opportunity to brain him from up close during their clinch. Beltran just needs to do the same thing by throwing the hardest punches he can possibly throw each time Burns initiates a clinch. Believe me, Burns will quickly stop holding if he discovers that that’s not a way to avoid punishment.
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