He’s down but Burns still says he’s too good for Taylor
RICKY Burns has quashed all prospect of a scottish superfight against upand-coming Josh Taylor — and says losing the WBA super-lightweight world title shouldn’t end his American ambitions.
scotland’s only three-weight world champion suffered a convincing points loss to IBF and IBO belt holder Julius Indongo in front of 8,000 disappointed home fans at Glasgow’s ssE Hydro on saturday night.
But the 34-year-old believes Commonwealth champ Taylor, only nine fights into his pro career but regularly touted as a challenger to Burns by manager Barry McGuigan, has done nothing to earn a crack at the most successful scottish boxer of his generation.
‘I’m not entertaining that fight,’ said Burns. ‘Josh is a cracking fighter. I get on well with him. He’s the Commonwealth champion.
‘But how many fights has he had? There are a lot of far bigger fights out there for me. I don’t even think it’s Josh who wants the fight, although he would obviously take it if it was offered to him. I think it’s more Barry McGuigan pushing his name out there.’
Burns believes any domestic challenger looking to take him on should concentrate instead on one of his stablemates under London-based trainer Tony sims, declaring: ‘see the amount of people who call me out on social media and stuff? There’s guys in this division like Ohara Davies. Fight him first and see how they do with him. I guarantee they wouldn’t get by him.’
If that’s open to debate, beyond dispute is the fact that Burns literally couldn’t get close to Indongo, who has three world belts — and an enhanced reputation as an awkward, strong, dangerous fighter — to show for his shift in front of a hostile crowd quickly silenced by his excellence.
As focused and determined as Burns looked upon entering the ring, dressed in camouflage and with his war face on as Welcome To
The Jungle by Guns ‘n’ roses blasted through the sound system, he couldn’t back up bravery and attitude with aptitude and a game plan to counter the southpaw.
From the first round, Burns was being outworked as he tried to figure Indongo out. naturally wary of leaving himself open to that big left hand, he took a lot of punishment from the namibian’s leading right.
There were brief — very brief — spells during the course of the 12 rounds when the home town hero prompted roars of defiance with a flurry or two of punches; he genuinely looked to have wobbled Indongo more than once.
But the visiting fighter just kept coming back, kept responding with heavy shots of his own. That even the most inebriated barely offered a murmur of protest over the unanimous points decision told its own story.
Had Burns won, all the talk would have been about a bigmoney bout with Adrien Broner, maybe even another unification match against WBC/WBO champion Terence Crawford.
As it stands, he’s caught betwixt and between those domestic challengers and the absolute elite in the ten-stone division. As promoter Eddie Hearn pointed out, though, losing a unification bout hardly compares to the devastating defeat to Dejan Zlaticanin suffered back in 2014.
‘He can come back,’ said Hearn. ‘It’s not like after the Zlaticanin fight. Back then, ricky was about 10 levels below where he is now. That felt like the end of the world.
‘This time he’s lost a unification fight to a world champion. If he can come back from Zlaticanin, he can come back from this.
‘There are big fights out there for ricky. He would be happy fighting a four rounder at Bethnal Green. We don’t want him to have those kinds of fights. It’s up to us to make sure he’s in those big fights.
‘There are big fights domestically and internationally. Adrien Broner is still out there and he will get calls to go to the united states. It’s just the case that he lost to someone who was very good.’
Hearn will get no arguments on that point, with Burns instantly conceding that he’d been beaten by the better man. Even if every punch he threw at Indongo had landed, it would have been hard for the scot to achieve parity.
A home loss in the main event felt like a fitting conclusion to saturday’s proceedings, with local optimism gradually ebbing away over the course of an evening.
On fight night, the mood can change in less than a heartbeat. The time it takes to land a beauty. Or to walk on to a lucky shot from some palooka who can’t believe his luck.
scotty Cardle lost his Lonsdale Belt despite putting robbie Barrett down twice. Charlie Flynn suffered horrific facial injuries from a clash of heads in his fight with ryan Collins.
The crowd was more than expectant, then, by the time Burns entered the ring. They demanded a home win. When it didn’t happen, they stayed to show their appreciation for a fighter who has given them so many great nights. And, if he has anything to do with it, intends to give them a few more.
‘I’ve still got a few years left in me and big fights ahead of me,’ said the Coatbridge fighter, who certainly looked deadly serious as he added: ‘I’m not finished yet.
‘Losing is the most gutting feeling. It’s not nice. But I’ve always said I’ll fight anyone — and I’m not afraid to lose.
‘I’ve come back before. Everyone knows what I’m like. Just give me a time and a place and I’ll go in with the best. This is all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’ll take a few weeks off, have a holiday with my family, then see my options.’
One of those options won’t be Taylor. not yet, anyway.