Hearn wants Burns-Broner in December

By Boxing News - 10/08/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Following a very, very controversial win over Kiryl Relikh (21-1, 19 KOs) last Friday night, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says he’d like to have his fighter WBA light welterweight champion Ricky Burns (41-5-1, 14 KOs) defend his title against American Adrien Broner fight for December in Las Vegas, Nevada if possible.

Hearn thinks it’ll be a huge fight, and he believes it needs to be made. The only question is Hearn’s mind is whether Burns’ damaged eardrum will allow him to take the fight. Burns suffered the injury early in his questionable 12 round unanimous decision win over the 26-year-old Relikh at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

Burns won the fight by the wide scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112. However, many boxing fans thought Burns lost, as did this writer. Some believe it was an old fashioned hometown decision with Burns getting a victory he didn’t deserve. The decision will likely make it impossible to get Broner over to Scotland unfortunately.

Broner (32-2, 24 KOs) isn’t going to put himself in a situation where he needs a knockout just so he can win against Burns in the UK. It’s likely that the only way the Broner vs. Burns fight takes place is if it’s in the U.S.

While Hearn is eager for the Burns-Broner fight to take place in December, Burns is saying the money has to be right for him to take it. If not, then he’ll go in another direction. With Burns’ mandatory out of the way with his questionable decision over Relikh, he can take two or three easy voluntary defenses if he wants to. I imagine those would be tempting for Burns, because he could have Hearn select guys that he can surely beat without any problems for title-milking defenses.

“I’ve always said throughout my career, if the money’s right I’ll fight absolutely anybody. I know we’re talking about the Broner fight happening and if the money is right then I would love that,” said Burns to Sky Sports. “I’m more than happy to go to America and fight and everybody knows that it is a genuinely hard fight. Adrien Broner, when he’s on his game, is a very good fighter. But that’s the kind of fight I’m in the game for. I’ve always said in my career I’d love to – at some point in my career – have a big fight over there so fingers crossed it comes off.”

It’s unclear how much money the 33-year-old Burns is looking for in a fight against Broner. I think Burns needs to understand that he’s no more known to casual boxing fans in the U.S than Broner’s last opponent Ashley Theophane, who Broner obliterated in nine rounds last April. That fight wasn’t a big deal in the U.S, and it didn’t bring in good ratings.

If Burns asks for too much money for the Broner fight, then he’ll wind up pricing himself out and ending up with nothing to show for it. I guess that would be good news for Burns, because he could then make voluntary defenses of his WBA title against bottom feeders picked out from the bottom of the WBA’s rankings rather than the top contenders. Burns’ previous opponent Michele Di Rocco is ranked near the bottom of the WBA’s rankings.

I’m sure he would be a tempting title-milking opponent for a voluntary defense for Burns if he doesn’t get the money he wants for a fight against Broner. I’m not sure if there would be any interest in Scotland from boxing fans to come out and watch Burns beat Di Rocco again, but you have to imagine that would be a strong possibility if the Burns-Broner fight doesn’t get made.

“Scotland has had some great nights with Ricky Burns, but now I think it’s time to go on the road. The fans here would love Vegas,” said Hearn to Sky Sports after Burns’ “victory” over Relikh. “Adrien Broner is 100 per cent the fight he wants, the fight he’s been searching for for many years. The terms are virtually there for that fight. We’re going to push and try to get it in December if we can. We want to make that Broner fight and then look for the unification fights for Ricky Burns. It’s time to go to that next level and roll the dice every time.”

Hearn wants the fight for Burns, but he’s not the one that will make ultimate decision. It’ll be up to Burns and his manager whether they’ll take the fight. Burns has already turned it down more than once. My guess is Burns will turn the Broner fight down again and look to milk his WBA title.

Well, Broner seems to want the fight against Burns, so it’s not as if Hearn is going to need to convince him to take the fight. Broner obviously sees Burns as there for the taking.
You have to see this as a cash out fight for Burns, because there is simply NO WAY that he’s going to be able to beat a fighter like Broner. I think Broner might have a hard time catching up to Burns to take him out, but I’m sure he’ll work on cutting off the ring so that he doesn’t struggle to get to the Scottish fighter.

It’ll be a big payday for Burns. I don’t see Burns taking the fight unless he gets a ton of money, because he would have two easy voluntary defenses he could take if he doesn’t face Broner. Burns’ likely next mandatory defense would John Molina Jr., who can punch and box. I can’t see Burns winning that fight. That’s why it might be better for him to take the Broner match if it pays well enough.