The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Burns’ fighting spirit hailed by promoter
BOXING: Burns bids to become Scotland’s first unified champion
Eddie Hearn thought he had seen the last of Ricky Burns when he surrendered his lightweight world title.
But, after watching the Coatbridge fighter drag himself back to the summit of world boxing, the promoter refuses to put a limit on Burns’ possibilities.
The ‘Rickster’ faces Namibian Julius Indongo in Glasgow tomorrow night in what he describes as the biggest fight of his career, with the unified super lightweight world championship on the line.
Burns, who turned 34 yesterday, defends his WBA title against the unbeaten holder of the IBO and IBF straps as he bids to become Scotland’s first unified champion.
But Hearn admits he struggled to see Burns ever returning to the highest stage after his sudden fall from grace three years ago.
The Matchroom chief reckoned Burns was done after the WBO lightweight crown slipped from his grasp with defeat to Terence Crawford in March 2014, and he lost to Dejan Zlaticanin for the vacant WBC belt three months later.
However, Burns beat Michele Di Rocco 12 months ago to reignite his career with a third world title triumph.
Hearn made the mistake of writing him off once before, but with a possible Vegas showdown against American Adrian Broner the carrot if he can emerge victorious this weekend, he has vowed never to do it again.
“Not many fighters have the kind of career he has had when they start winning world titles again after they’ve lost one,” the matchmaker said.
“At this stage of his career everything is looked at on a fight-by-fight basis. But Ricky knows a victory on Saturday makes him a huge target for the big names, and they will follow.”
Hearn admits he could have earned his client far bigger sums by exploring fights elsewhere.
But he was pleased to see Burns put belts before bundles of cash after opting to take on Indongo, who claimed his IBF title from Russian Eduard Troyanovsky with a sensational 40-second first-round knockout in Moscow in December.
Hearn said: “This is a tough fight. Indongo is a big 140-pounder while Ricky is a small one. But it should be tough for a unification fight, that’s how it should be.
“I had better deals on the table for Ricky and, to be fair, so did Indongo. But they both wanted this fight.
“That’s good for boxing. These guys have targeted each other because they both think it’s a chance to become a unified world champion.
“They are both going for belts rather than the money, but Ricky is always like that.
“After Zlaticanin, when I thought he was done, I asked myself whether he would want to drop back down to British or European level.
“But Ricky would drop back to fourround level because he doesn’t care about all the other stuff, he just loves boxing.
“It’s not about the money. He just loves training and fighting. He wouldn’t have it any other way.”