Burnett’s journey from living in Hitman’s car to unification bout
RYAN BURNETT, the unheralded hero of Irish professional boxing, aims to embellish his reputation when he challenges for the WBA world bantamweight title in his native Belfast tonight.
In the first unification fight to be held on Irish soil, the 25-year-old, who secured the IBF version of the belt last June, ups the ante by taking on veteran Kazakh Zhanat Zhakiyanov, who has lost just one of his 28 fights.
Battling the odds, though, is nothing new for Burnett, whose life story would seem implausible even to the script editorsofthe Rocky movies.
Encouraged by his father Brian, Burnett started boxing in the Kronk gym in Belfast when he was nine. He then joined the Holy Family club, where Paddy Barnes was the star performer.
Very soon, it became clear that Burnett was destined for big things.
Within the space of four months in 2010, Burnett won a silver medal at the World Youth championship – Joe Ward won a gold medal at the same event – before securing a gold medal at the inaugural Youth Olympics.
It wasn’t long, though, before the dream turned sour beginning with a 4-3 loss to future World champion and Olympic medallist Michael Conlan in the flyweight division at the 2011 Irish Elite championships – one of only four losses he suffered in 94 amateur contests.
Then a bulging disc in his lower back meant that the rest of the year was a write-off.
Once he recovered, he set his sights on becoming a professional.
“It was just something I wanted to do when I was young. I wanted to fight with smaller sized gloves and make a career from the sport,” he says.
But scarcely had he started training in Manchester under Ricky ‘Hitman’ Hatton than disaster struck. A routine brain scan uncovered a blockage in the main artery in his brain – a defect that had existed since birth.
He was denied a boxing licence; his neurologist even expressed surprise that Burnett wasn’t already suffering slurred speech and diminished reactions.
Burnett was determined to prove the neurologist wrong, and after a year-long battle he was finally cleared to box when a procedure showed that his brain had created a path around the obstruction, and was receiving a suitable blood f low.
But after four wins on the spin, his career ground to a halt again, when he parted company with Hatton. The split was amicable, but without any income Burnett was unable to pay the rent.
So for six weeks, Ryan and his father – who had joined him in the UK to help him find a new trainer and accommodation – lived in a Vauxhall Mokka Hatton had lent them.
Ultimately, fellow Irish boxer Andy Lee provided him with a lifeline in the form of an introduction of his trainer Adam Booth.
Under Booth, who has described Burnett as the most naturally talented boxer he has ever trained, he has blossomed extending his unbeaten run to 17 contests, including a decisive points win over defending title holder Lee Haskins in June to secure the IBF title.
But tonight’s fight represents his biggest challenge. If he secure another world belt, he will finally earn the plaudits he deserves.
Burnett v Zhakiyanov, Live, Sky Sports, est 10.30