Josh wants Burns night
CHALLENGE TO CHAMP Barry backing his man to beat Ricky when they finally clash but will never badmouth the Scot
BArrY McGUIGAn insists the Josh Taylor camp will keep shouting out ricky Burns until the champion takes notice.
But the Northern Irish fight legend turned promoter insisted they will never trash talk the Scottish hero.
McGuigan sees Burns as the dream fight for his prospect as it will be the perfect handing over of the world title torch.
He’s hoping to get a crack at the champ in the next 12 months but is adamant there will be no public slanging matches from Taylor when it comes to one of Scotland’s most successful boxers.
Three-weight world champion Burns can unify the super lightweight division against Julius Indongo on April 15 while Taylor aims to defend his Commonwealth crown against South African Warren Joubert at Meadowbank tonight.
And McGuigan said: “There are interesting fights out there for Josh. There’s Anthony Yigit, who beat Lenny Daws to win the European title a short time ago. Josh has sparred with him so knows he can win the EBU title.
“But we are conscious of Burns v Indongo. Burns is the elephant in the room.
“Burns has been muted on the subject of fighting Josh so we need to keep blasting opponents out so he has to take notice.
“We have real reverence for Ricky, a real respect. We’ve seen a lot of nonsense recently before fights but you won’t get any of that here.
“You can still have a great fight and a great spectacle and still have respect.
“We’ve got that for Burns. He’s a phenomenal fighter, one of the Scottish greats.
“He is the epitome of a fighter who made the most of his ability, more than any fighter I know.
“His determination, desire and work ethic has been incredible and what he has achieved is incredible.
“But I genuinely believe Josh is the better boxer. He has more tools.
“But it’s not made up with just ability. It’s about resilience and the will to win, to risk going to the limit. Burns has shown us that is what gets him through tough fights.
“But it wasn’t a draw when he fought Beltran and he was lucky against his last opponent. It just shows me he is reaching the end of the road. Ricky’s tough and he deserves his success but Scottish boxing fans deserve this fight at some point.
“But we have to prove it by continuing to win because Burns has already proved it.”
McGuigan has been raving about Taylor for some time but believes word is getting out about the star he has on his hands.
He added: “We know how good Josh is, you see it in sparring. It costs me a fortune to get him sparring partners. We have middleweights and light middleweights but sometimes they don’t come back.
“When we were down in London I walked in to the gym and there were 40 people there. I asked what it was all about and they said they were there to see Josh sparring.
“It’s a mark of how good he is and how much he strives to get better. I tell him he’s doing well but he is just striving for perfection.
“He’s getting better and better and is a world champion in the making.”
Ricky is the epitome of a fighter who has made the most of his ability BARRY McGUIGAN