The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Burns opting to take on ‘nightmare’ fight
bo2ing: Scot in unification bid against unbeaten Namibian Julius Indongo
Promoter Eddie Hearn claims Ricky Burns refused easier options to take a “nightmare” fight with Julius Indongo.
Burns faces the unbeaten Namibian for the WBA, IBF and IBO World superlightweight titles to unify the division at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on April 15.
The 33-year-old Scot became a three-weight world champion when he claimed the vacant WBA title by beating Michele di Rocco last year.
Indongo, 34, won the IBF and IBO titles with a stunning first-round knockout of Russian Eduard Troyanovsky in Moscow in December, and when Burns was given the option of a unification fight his mind was quickly set.
Hearn said: “Indongo is a tall, rangy fighter that can punch, who not a lot of people know a lot about. So yes, absolutely a nightmare
“Other fights came up, bigger names, but were easier.
“Obviously I went to Ricky and said you can fight this guy for X money or this horrible nightmare for less money, what you want to do?
“He said, I will fight the horrible guy for less money, I have won three world championships and I want to unify.”
He added: “It is a 50-50 fight really. You would like to think that Indongo could fold under the pressure of coming to Glasgow with the amazing crowd, but then you realise he went to Russia and knocked out the champion so you can’t look for that for inspiration.”