Over the
past few days, since Ricky Burns reign as WBO lightweight champion
came to an end when he suffered defeat to the talented American
Terrance Crawford, there has been a lot of speculation as to where
Burns will now go in his career and question marks surrounding the
future of big time boxing in Scotland.
I like Burns; he’s one of my
favourite fighters. I have always admired his grit, determination and
massive heart, as well as his boxing ability, but he was lucky to
still have his world title prior to Saturday night. He has been
fortunate to retain it in his previous two defences. His last outing
was against Raymundo Beltran, who broke Ricky's jaw in the second
round, dropped him in the eighth and for all money it seemed as if
Beltran had come into the lion’s den and taken Burn's title. The
judges scored the contest a draw. Beltran had been robbed. You have
to take your hat off to Ricky Burns for fighting ten rounds with a
broken jaw which later required surgery but he could count himself
lucky to still have the belt around his waist. The fight before this
was against Jose A Gonzalez, an extremely skilful Puerto Rican
fighter. He gave Burns all sorts of trouble throughout the fight but
ended up retiring on his stall in the ninth round with a reported
injured wrist. I believe the real reason he quit was the sheer grit
and fight from Ricky Burns broke his heart, because let’s face
it if you were three rounds from winning a world title you wouldn't
quit on your stall? Would you? Burns wouldn’t that’s for sure
All things said and done I don’t
believe this will be the end of Ricky Burns, neither will it be the
end of big time boxing in Scotland. I don't think it would be wise
for him to pursue the rematch with Crawford straight away either. He
was clearly out boxed by the American whose style is all wrong for
him. Ricky should regroup and have a couple of big domestic fights.
He’s at a weight that is one of the most exciting domestically,
full of quality, entertaining fighters. There are endless fights that
could be made. Just to name a few you've got Anthony Crolla, Derry
Mathews, Kevin Mitchell, Gavin Rees, Gary Buckland, John Murray and
also the likes of Olympic champion Luke Campbell looking to announce
himself in amongst the best domestically in the near future. The
possibilities are endless for Ricky moving forward from his defeat to
Crawford. He may no longer be world champion by he is still number
one in Britain and I'd love to see him in with any of the fighters
named above, all of which I’m sure would fill any arena in
Scotland.
Maybe the fight that would make the
most sense at this time would be Gavin Rees? He is coming off a
split decision defeat in an all action war for the Londsdale belt
against Gary Buckland, in Wales in February. Although the fight could
have gone either way and despite not getting the decision, Rees
showed that he's still got an awful lot to offer the sport, even at
the age of 33. Personally, I thought Rees had done enough to win but
the judges thought otherwise.
Elsewhere in the lightweight division,
Tommy Coyle could be possibly facing London's Kevin Mitchell in an
IBF eliminator. The prize for the winner is a fight against Mexican
champion Miguel Vazquez for the title. Tommy Coyle showed last week
in Hull that he's got a massive heart along with giant bollocks. He
overcame an extremely tough test in Daniel Eduardo Brizuela from
Argentina, in a defence of his IBF international title. This fight is
as good as they come and if you haven't already seen it I recommend
that you give it a watch. With plenty of knock downs and point
deductions this fight is surely a fight of the year contender!
Manchester's John Murray is back and
looking to take the division by storm. He stopped John Simpson at the
weekend on the undercard of Burn's v Crawford. This is his second
fight back since an 11th round defeat to Brandon Rios in
2011 for the WBA lightweight title. John Murray likes the thought of
facing fellow Mancunian Anthony Crolla in Manchester this April which
I'm sure would be a quality fight for the fans and a good clash of
styles.
I'm sure you all agree there are a lot
of massive fights to be made in the lightweight division and that if
you matched all the domestic fighters I've named in this article it
would make for some amazing fights. The majority of them fight under
the same leading promoter Matchroom so why not make them happen?
I personally think that there should be
some kind of lightweight tournament put in place like the Super six,
the top eight lightweights in UK all sign up to fight each other in
ten round fights over eighteen months or so. The top two at the end
fight in a world title eliminator. In the meantime they are all
involved in massive domestic fights that will fill arenas all over
the UK and provide classic fights for the fans. That way no one can
avoid anyone. Everyone would be winners. The fighters, the promoters
and us, the fans. Who wouldn't want to see Buckland v Rees 2? Burns v
Crolla? Mitchell v Murray 2? Coyle v Mathews 2? And in time to come
chuck Luke Campbell in to the mix! The possibilities are endless and
I believe this is the best way to make sure the best fight the best
in the division. They use a similar format in Premier League darts
where the top 10 play each other in different venues across the
nation and there's a league table and I believe this could work with
the lightweight division and I'm sure it would fill venues in all the
big cities!
So Eddie Hearn you fancy making this
happen?
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