Jaw break had Burns on brink
number of each round and every one of them seemed to drag on forever.
‘When they took me to hospital they gave me painkillers and morphine but I was in so much pain that not even the morphine was working.’
The pain eased once surgeons had operated and inserted a steel plate in the Scot’s lower jaw.
But it was a further two weeks before Burns got the news he was praying for, that his injury was healing and he was expected to make a complete recovery.
However, he knows that while he is over the worst of it, he has still to find out if his jaw is strong enough to withstand heavy punches.
Burns could also be left with a lasting legacy of numbness in his lower mouth and jaw.
He revealed: ‘Due to the fact that I carried on boxing, the bone was rubbing on the main nerve and that caused damage.
‘The area is numb as if I had been given an injection by the dentist to freeze that part of my face and I’ve been warned that there is only a 50-50 chance that the feeling will come back. If not, they say I’ll get used to it.
‘The surgeon has also assured me that my jaw will heal and become as strong as ever and I hope to start training in four or five weeks’ time.
‘The injury wasn’t caused by a hard shot. Beltran just caught me on exactly the right spot — and whether my jaw had been weakened by a previous injury I just don’t know.’
The WBO has installed American Terence Crawford as t he mandatory challenger, but Burns is desperate to give Beltran a rematch in an effort to set the record straight.
He said: ‘ If I have to fight Crawford, so be it, but Beltran deserves a rematch. I also want to put the doubts to rest after taking a lot of stick on Facebook and Twitter.
‘People should remember that it wasn’t me who judged the fight and, from the second round on, I had to do what was necessary to survive. It would have been a totally different fight if the injury hadn’t happened.
‘It’s not in me to quit. Jose Gonzalez said he broke his hand, (when fighting me) but, even if I broke both of mine, I still wouldn’t quit.
‘Now that I know I am going to be OK, I can’t wait to return to full training and get back in the ring at the end of January or early February.’