By Scott Gilfoid: Sky Sports commentator Jim Watt is hoping that former two division world champion Ricky Burns’ problems will be solved with his move up in weight from 135 to 140 for his fight this Saturday night against Alexandre Lepelley (17-1-1, 3 KOs) at the First Direct Arena, Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Burns had been complaining about having problems making weight for the lightweight division, so he’s moved up in weight to light welterweight in hopes that he’ll be a more effective fighter in this division. But we’re only talking about just 5 pounds, and that’s actually not that much weight.
The way Burns has looked in his last four fights against Jose Gonzales, Raymundo Beltran, Terence Crawford and Dejan Zlaticanin, I’m not sure if 5 pounds is enough. Burns might need to move up all the way to welterweight for his weight issues to be solved, and at that weight his chances of success are less than zero. They’re already quite low given all the big punchers in that light welterweight division that he’ll need to compete with.
“Maybe it is just weight issues because I do know that for the last three or four fights people have told me he looks terrific, but then he isn’t on the night,” Watt said in his column at Skysports.com. “I genuinely hope moving up will do the trick, because he needs to get back on track and, above all, fire on all cylinders. I hope he is strong, powerful, quick – and impresses.”
I really don’t think moving up to 140 is going to be the answer to Burns’ problems. He’s looked terrible recently, like a fighter who has aged overnight after a hard beating. That beating came from Gonzales and Beltran, both of which nailed Burns with some massive head shots in their fights with him. Since those two fights, Burns has looked like a mere shadow of the fighter he once was.
I never rated him to begin with, but he certainly was a lot better than he’s looked recently. But as far as his problems being solved by him moving up in weight 5 measly pounds, I don’t see it. That’s too little weight to solve the kinds of problems that Burns has.
If it is a weight issue, he’s going to likely need to move up in weight to 147 for him to really fix his game. But I don’t think Burns’ problems are related to weight. I see it a combination of age, the beatings from Gonzales and Beltran, and the mental self-doubt that has crept into Burns’ head following those fights.
“I want to see that fire burning inside him again and I want to see him go for a third world title,” Watt said.
Just which world title that Watt is talking about is what I’d like to know. If you put Burns in with someone like Chris Algieri, Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, he’s going to be out of his element. WBA champion Jessie Vargas is the weak link among the champions at 140, and the guy that Eddie Hearn should try and target for Burns if he’s smart.
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