BURNS IS TURNING FOCUS TO TERENCE

RICKY BURNS has targeted a light-welterweight unification superfight with Terence Crawford in Las Vegas. After Burns defeated Kiryl Relikh to retain his WBA title in Glasgow last month, it was expected that a showdown with long-term rival Adrien Broner would be next on the cards. But Broner has ducked the challenge and has since announced his intention to instead fight Adrian Granados on February 11 next year. That has left 33-year-old Burns with a gap in his schedule as he weighs up the options of whom he might face next. The Scottish three-weight world champion lost his world lightweight crown on a unanimous points decision to Crawford in Glasgow back in March 2014. Both men have since moved up to light-welterweight and Burns admits that, although a date with Broner isn’t entirely out of the question, a rematch with Crawford to unify the division is the star attraction. ‘I’ve not heard anything yet from Broner’s camp,’ said Burns. ‘He was mentioned as my next opponent, but there have been a few other big names mentioned, too. ‘It is still a possibility to fight him, but it might not be until April or May next year. If that was the case, I would like to try and squeeze one in before then — maybe back in the Hydro. ‘Crawford’s name has also been mentioned. He was tweeting (promoter) Eddie Hearn asking what we are doing next. He wants my WBA title, so that could be possible. ‘I would say fighting Crawford would be a bigger fight than Broner. He (Crawford) has the WBO and the WBC titles, so we would be fighting for all the belts. It would be a huge unification fight. ‘I will fight anyone. If the opportunity came along to go to America and fight one of the big names, then so be it. I would be happy to do it.’ Burns lost to Crawford after suffering a broken jaw in his previous fight against Raymundo Beltran and believes that he is now in a better frame of mind should Crawford come calling again. He added: ‘My last fight against him just wasn’t the right time for me. I was still recovering from a broken jaw. ‘I was told that, if I didn’t fight him, I would be stripped of my title. So I had to jump straight back into full training even with my jaw the way it was. ‘But I would be more confident now of getting the job done against him.’