Ricky Burns

Ricky Burns
Statistics
Real name Ricky Burns
Nickname(s) Rickster
Rated at Lightweight
Height 5 ft 10
Reach 70 cm
Nationality Scottish
Born 13 April 1983
Bellshill, Scotland
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 35
Wins 33
Wins by KO 9
Losses 2
Draws 0

Ricky Burns is a boxer from Coatbridge in Scotland who fights in the lightweight division and is currently the WBO interim lightweight champion of the world becoming only the 13th Scottish boxing world champion. He is also a former WBO Super-Featherweight champion, Commonwealth super featherweight champion and has previously challenged for both the British and European titles.[1]

Contents

Career

Early career

Burns first fight as a professional was a four round victory in October 2001 over Woody Greenaway at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. On 12 December 2004, following a string of seven wins over opponents including Jeff Thomas, Ernie Smith and Daniel Thorpe he was matched against fellow unbeaten prospect Colin Bain. The fight, at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow, resulted in a first career defeat for Bain as Burns won over the six round distance. For Burns, the win set him up for a journey south of the border to face the unbeaten British lightweight champion Graham Earl in a non-title fight. The fight with Earl took place at the Wembley Conference Center and Burns produced one of the upsets of the year when he scored a points victory to beat Earl over eight rounds.[2]

Title fights

The win against Earl meant he would land a shot at the big time when in February 2006, he took on reigning British, Commonwealth and European champion Alex Arthur. The fight took place in Edinburgh and ended in defeat for Burns, as Arthur retained on points. Burns who was still only a 12-fight novice at this stage took the fight to Arthur prompting the champion to heap praise on him; "Ricky Burns was in superb shape and he was up for the fight" said Arthur, "He's a brilliant boxer with a great future and he could be a world champion one day." Burns himself refused to be disappointed with the loss saying; "I don't count that as a loss. I'm just 22 and it was great experience for me".[3]

Burns next had a crack at the British title almost exactly a year later when in February 2007, he met reigning champion Carl Johanneson at the Town Hall in Leeds. The fight ended once again in defeat with Burns losing a 12 round decision to the experienced champion. Johanneson intent on winning well before his home crowd hounded Burns throughout the fight and managed to knock Burns down three times.[4]

New challenges

After the defeat to Johanneson, Burns took the decision to leave his old boxing club in a bid to seek a new challenge. Burns had worked with Rab Bannan at the Barn Boxing Club for over 14 years, but the Johanneson defeat prompted a need for a change of direction. On telling his former mentor the news Burns said; "It was a nightmare having to tell him. It was really sad because I’ve been with him for 14 years. All my boxing life really. It was really hard but we left on good terms and we shook hands and I’m sure our paths will cross again." Burns moved to the Dalmarnock gym in Glasgow, where he could train alongside the likes of Willie Limond and Kenny Anderson.[5]

Since the fight with Johanneson, Burns won eight fights in a row. A ten round win over Romanian Gheorghe Ghiompirica at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow gave him the lightly regarded British International Masters belt.[6] Burns also spent time sparring former opponent Alex Arthur in preparation for Arthur's WBO Super-Featherweight title defence against Nicky Cook.[7]

Commonwealth champion

In September 2008, Burns was in line for a crack at the vacant Commonwealth title, a belt which had been given up by Londoner Kevin Mitchell. The challenge took place at the York Hall in Bethnal Green and saw Burns outpoint the Ghanaian Osumana Akaba over 12 rounds.[8] The fight which was taken with only weeks notice after the original main event on the card was cancelled propelled Burns into the championship frame. Speaking of his future ambitions Burns said; "There is only one fight I want at the moment. That fight would be the current British champion Kevin Mitchell. He recently has been injured, and won't be back until December so we'll have to see what happens".[9]

Burns defended his crown at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall soon afterwards in November 2008, against another Ghanaian, Yakubu Amidu. The African fighter had a record of 16-1-1, with all his victories coming by way of stoppage. Burns however was too much and his superior fitness levels showed as the referee stopped the contest in the seventh round handing victory to the Scotsman.[10] Burns second defence took place in March 2009, and saw Burns halt former British champion Michael Gomez in the seventh round.[11] On 20 June 2009, Burns made perhaps the toughest defence of his title yet with a hard fought 12 round win over Northern Ireland's Kevin O'Hara.[12] with the assistance of the highly experienced trainer Billy Nelson and his Fighting Scots Gym in Stepps. Ricky became Billy's first world champion.

Super featherweight World champion

Burns success in the ring had elevated him to the number one ranking with the World Boxing Organization's rankings. Burns' promoter Frank Warren tried to negotiate a match with the reigning champion Roman Martinez. The bout with the Puerto Rican champion had been subject to numerous delays with the fight scheduled for both Scotland and Puerto Rico at various intervals only for the fight never to materialise and for Martinez to make a voluntary defence of his title instead. The uncertainty for Burns meant that a proposed British title contest against Gary Sykes never happened with Sykes winning the title against Burns replacement Andy Morris and defending against the man Burns had defeated in his last Commonwealth title defence Kevin O'Hara.[13] Finally after almost a year of frustration Burns re-entered the ring on 15 May 2010, on the undercard of Kevin Mitchell's world title shot against Michael Katsidis at the Boleyn Ground. Burns continued his winning streak and kept ticking over with an eight round win over journeyman and former foe Youssef Al Hamidi. Burns claimed after the fight that he hoped the fight with Román Martinez would materialise around July and that it would be in Glasgow.[14]

The WBO super-featherweight title showdown between Burns and Roman Martinez was eventually confirmed on 24 June 2010 and scheduled to take place at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow on 4 September. Speaking at the announcement of the fight Burns said; "this has been dragging on a bit..it is the biggest fight of my career but I'm more than confident that I can beat him".[15] Finally on 4 September, Burns entered the ring at Kelvin Hall to face the WBO's unbeaten reigning world champion Roman Martinez. Martinez had held the title for over a year winning it from Englishman Nicky Cook and defending twice against Colombian Feider Viloria and Argentinian Gonzalo Munguia.[16] Despite suffering a knockdown in the first round, Burns took the fight to the champion winning on all three judges scorecards 115-112, 115-112 and 115-113 to inflict a career first defeat on Martinez and finally winning the world title.[17]

Speaking of the fight, Burns promoter Frank Warren said; "this was the best night I've ever had in Scotland and I've had some great shows with Scott Harrison and Alex Arthur as well as bringing Nigel Benn and Frank Bruno up here." Describing the atmosphere at the Kelvin Hall as "electric" he went on to praise Burns, who in winning the title had become Scotland's 12th world champion, saying Scotland had a new "sporting hero" and that the win would lead to a renaissance in Scottish boxing. It also transpired that before the fight the manager of Celtic, Neil Lennon had called to wish Burns the best and sent him a Celtic strip signed by the whole of the first team as a good luck present.[18]

Title defences

On 4 December 2010, Burns defended his title for the first time against Norwegian boxer Andreas Evensen who held the WBO inter-continental belt at featherweight. The fight, at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, resulted in another unanimous points win for Burns with the Scotsman also scoring a knockdown in the first round.[19] On 12 March 2011, Burns made his second defence again at the Braehead Arena. His opponent the Ghanaian boxer Joseph Laryea had won the WBO Inter-Continental title win a victory over Scotsman Paul Appleby on the same night that Burns beat Evenson. The fight was stopped in the 7th round after Laryea withdrew citing a broken knuckle with Burns ahead in the fight.[20] Burns next defence was scheduled for 16 July 2011 and against former WBO Champion Nicky Cook, in Liverpool's Echo Arena.[21] The fight resulted in a 93 second stoppage for Burns as Cook's corner threw in the towel following an injury to his back. After only six seconds a punch from Burns resulted in Cook receiving a count and complaining of back trouble. Cook was sent to the canvas twice more before his corner retired the boxer handing a third straight defence of the title to Burns who said that he would like to fight the South African boxer Mzonke Fana next.[22]

Burns was next scheduled to meet mandatory challenger, and Boxrec #1 rated Super featherweight, Adrien Broner, but announced on 22 September 2011 that he would be relinquishing his WBO Super featherweight title and moving up to compete at lightweight. Burns said that the move up a weight division would ease the pressure of having to control his weight saying "the last couple of fights it was getting harder and harder for me to do it."[23] Adrien Broner commented on the situation, saying, "You vacated the title talking about you couldn't make weight no more. But you just fought four times and defended this title," Broner further said, "But everyone knows boxing is a game where you can duck fighters... and I guess he felt like running away was best for his career."[24]

Move to Lightweight

In his first fight at the weight it was announced that Burns would fight Australian Michael Katsidis in London for the WBO interim lightweight title. Speaking of the fight Burns said that it would definitely be the toughest of his career saying "I don't think they could have got me a harder fight if they tried, he's been in with the best of the weight, he's proved himself, obviously he's one of the best in the division and it's a great chance to get out there and show what I can do." On the 5th November 2011, Burns took on Katsidis for the WBO interim lightweight championship and despite being the slight underdog went on to win the fight by unanimous decision.[23] After the fight Burns claimed to have "proved a lot of people wrong" as some people "thought Michael would walk all over me". Speaking of the fight he added "Michael didn't give me a minute, he kept coming forward but I'd prepared for that. I'm doing my job and that's the way I always look at it."[25]

Professional boxing record

32 Wins (9 knockouts, 23 decisions), 2 loss(s), 0 Draw, 0 No Contest
Res. Record Opponnent Type Rd., Time Date Location Notes
Win 33-2 Michael Katsidis UD 12 (12) 2011-11-05 Wembley Stadium, London for WBO Interim Lightweight World Title.
Win 32-2 Nicky Cook TKO 1 (12) 2011-07-16 Echo Arena, Liverpool, Merseyside Retained WBO Super Featherweight World Title.
Win 31-2 Joseph Laryea RTD 7 (12) 2011-03-12 Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland Retained WBO Super Featherweight World Title.
Win 30-2 Andreas Evensen UD 12 2010-12-04 Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland Retained WBO Super Featherweight World Title.
Win 29-2 Roman Martinez UD 12 2010-09-04 Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland Won WBO Super Featherweight World Title.
Win 28-2 Youssef Al Hamidi UD 8 2010-05-15 Upton Park, West Ham, London
Win 27-2 Kevin O'Hara UD 12 2009-06-19 Bellahouston Sports Centre, Glasgow, Scotland Retained Commonwealth (British Empire) Super Featherweight Title.
Win 26-2 Michael Gomez TKO 7 (12) 2009-03-27 Bellahouston Sports Centre, Glasgow, Scotland Retained Commonwealth (British Empire) Super Featherweight Title.
Win 25-2 Yakubu Amidu TKO 7 (12) 2008-11-14 Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland Retained Commonwealth (British Empire) Super Featherweight Title.
Win 24-2 Osumanu Akaba UD 12 2008-09-26 York Hall, Bethnal Green, London Won vacant Commonwealth (British Empire) Super Featherweight Title.
Win 23-2 Gheorghe Ghiompirica UD 10 2008-05-17 Thistle Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
Win 22-2 Billy Smith UD 4 2008-03-22 International Arena, Cardiff, Wales
Win 21-2 Silence Saheed TKO 3 (6) 2008-02-22 Dalziel Park Hotel & Conference Centre, Motherwell, Scotland
Win 20-2 Billy Smith UD 6 2007-12-15 Meadowbank Sports Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland

References

[26]

  1. ^ Boxrec | Ricky Burns professional record
  2. ^ Scottish Boxing | Burns beats British Lightweight Champion at Wembley
  3. ^ BBC Sport | Arthur beats Burns in bruising title defence
  4. ^ Scottish Boxing | Brave Burns loses on points to Johanneson
  5. ^ Airdrie & Coatbridge Observer | Burns leaves Barn club
  6. ^ Airdrie & Coatbridge Observer | Burns too hot for Romanian
  7. ^ Arthur ready to cook up a storm with sparring partner Burns
  8. ^ Burns claims Commonwealth Crown
  9. ^ Eastside boxing | Burns : there is only one fight I want at the moment
  10. ^ Britishboxing.net | Burns hunts down the Yak
  11. ^ BBC Sport | Burns retains title against Gomez
  12. ^ BBC Sport | Burns overcomes O'Hara in Glasgow
  13. ^ BBC Sport | Ricky Burns awaits title destiny
  14. ^ Airdie and Coatbridge Advertiser | Burns clinches Upton Park win
  15. ^ BBC Sport | Ricky Burns secures title bout with Roman Martinez
  16. ^ Boxrec | Roman Martinez professional record
  17. ^ BBC sport | Ricky Burns beats Martinez in Glasgow
  18. ^ The Telegraph | Ricky Burns shows true courage to become Scotlands 12th world champion
  19. ^ BBC Sport | Ricky Burns defeats Andreas Evensen to retain WBO crown
  20. ^ BBC Sport | Super featherweight Ricky Burns retains WBO title
  21. ^ BBC Sport | Ricky Burns set to defend WBO title against Cook
  22. ^ BBC Sport | Ricky Burns stops Nicky Cook in first round the retain WBO title
  23. ^ a b BBC Sport | Burns ready for toughest fight with Katsidis
  24. ^ Boxingscene | Adrien Broner Blasts Ricky Burns
  25. ^ BBC Sport | Ricky Burns beats Michael Katsidis to win Lightweight title
  26. ^ http://ringtv.craveonline.com/blog/168223-broner-apparently-becomes-mandatory-challenger-for-wbo-title

[1]

Achievements
Preceded by
Kevin Mitchell
Vacated		 Commonwealth Super Featherweight Champion
September 26, 2008–October 23, 2010		 Succeeded by
Liam Walsh
Preceded by
Román Martínez		 WBO Super featherweight Champion
September 4, 2010– September 10, 2011
Vacated		 Succeeded by
Vacant
Preceded by
Robert Guerrero
Vacated		 WBO Lightweight Champion
Interim title
5 November 2011–present		 Incumbent