Burns Shining; Arthur Says He is Still The Best in Scotland
By Terence Dooley
“I'm not worried about Burns, but I am concerned about the temperature in Scotland. I hear it can be freezing even in August.”
Roman Martinez's pre-fight words proved to half-prophetic as the Puerto Rican WBO super-featherweight champion found challenger Ricky Burns too hot to handle at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow on Saturday night. Martinez, who has since blamed weight making difficulties for his points loss, could have no complaints about the temperature on the night, Burns' vocal fans turned the arena into a sweltering, sweating bear-pit and their support was rewarded when their man's hand was raised at the end of twelve enthralling rounds of boxing, brawling and bombing.
Scotland's new world champion triumphed by scores of 115-112, twice, and 115-113 to take a well-deserved win and send the champion home without the title he took from Nicky Cook in Manchester last March. Cook gave Martinez problems that night before being wiped out by counter punches.
Interestingly, Burns watched promotional stablemate Kevin Mitchell lose to Michael Katsidis for the interim WBO lightweight title back in May. Indeed, Burns boxed 'Useful' Youssef Al Hamidi on the undercard of Mitchell's third round TKO loss and thoughts of Kevin's loss sprang to mind early in this contest when Burns was floored by a right hand late in the first after a fine start.
Mitchell, like Burns, had started well only to get caught late in the opening stanza, the Dagenham-based boxer had failed to regroup and didn't really get back into the fight that night; Burns, however, was ultra-concentrated when he came out for the second round, promoter Frank Warren had warned him to use his boxing brain prior to the opening bell and 'Rickster' took this advice on-board, finding the target with a left hook to the body.
Martinez (128¾lb) looked dry in the opening sessions, a sign, perhaps, that making the weight had taken its toll, though he had steam enough on his shots in the second, bringing a wince to the face of Burns with one well-placed left hook to the body. The champion's control of the contest was steadily eroded, though, as Burns (129¾lb) piled on the pressure, his volume punching and grit a surprise to many in the arena, it had been assumed that the Coatbridge-based fighter would box and negate 'Rocky' rather than taking it to him. This give-and-take approach from both men caused the fight to catch fire early and it burned brightly for the duration, with the crowd pouring fuel on the fire whenever their man threw a shot, which was often.
Pre-fights doubts over Martinez's attitude towards the challenger were confirmed by his conduct during a crucial moment in the fourth round. Burns broke through along the ropes and tried his luck with a few right uppercuts. Martinez looked to his corner and indicated that he was OK only for Burns to use the lapse in concentration to try another right uppercut, this one landed and sent out a clear message, 'Rocky' had a real life Balboa in front of him and needed to dig deep into his reserves if he was to defeat the raging Scot.
Roman continued to dialogue with his corner, who were becoming increasingly agitated, a nod in their direction during round seven was followed by a big push as the 27-year-old tried to put Burns in his place only for the surge to prove counter-productive, Martinez tired visibly after throwing his shots and was fading with each assault.
Again, Kevin Mitchell had been given a similar script to Burns back in May, a winnable home fight against a beatable champion yet had failed to learn his lines, Ricky, also 27, had learned them, added to them and was bellowing them out on the night. Martinez even threw out an improvisation, belting Burns after the bell had gone for the end of round nine. Billy Nelson, Burns' trainer, roared his disapproval at referee Mike Ortega, who pointed out that he could barely hear the bell over the uninterrupted din. Undeterred, Burns kept pumping away during the final stanzas, carrying them, and the fight, as he sought to follow the likes of Jim Watt, Ken Buchanan and Scott Harrison into the annals of Scottish world champions.
There was a disjointed look to Martinez in the closing stages, at times he resembled the late-career Naseem Hamed, Roman looked ungainly and plain awful when caught with clean shots, a left hook to the head, right uppercut to the chin and left hook to the body of Martinez punctuated a quality performance from Burns, who celebrated at the final bell. Scotland had a new hero, Martinez, now 24-1-1 (15), had a new perspective, his seeming lack of respect for Burns prior to the fight replaced by a healthy dose of appreciation for the efforts of his opponent.
It had been a roller-coaster fight, a mini George Foreman versus Ron Lyle minus the poundage and a few knockdowns; promoter Frank Warren was effusive in praise for Burns' win. “Ricky is a new hero for Scottish sport. He has it all, guts, endeavour and a will to win,” he purred.
Burns told Sky Sports that the early knock down had spurred him on, he also revealed that pre-fight jibes had fired him up going into the contest. "I made the mistake of going square on and it was a peach of a right hand. As soon as he caught me I thought 'What's going on here?'” admitted the 29-2 (7) boxer when discussing the knockdown.
"But I showed the heart of a champion to get back up and go on and win the fight. I'm always confident in my own ability. At times in the build-up to this fight it felt like just me and my camp thought I would win. But the boxing critics who said that I would lose just spurred me on. I've wanted to a win world title since I was a wee boy, and it is just an amazing feeling."
“The better the opponents that are put in front of me, the better I box,” he continued. “People have doubted me all my career and I was just determined to prove them wrong. I am always confident in my ability and this was the performance of my life. I think I have proved that I am world class and I just want to enjoy that.”
“I had to grit my teeth every round there and I'm just overwhelmed. I couldn't ask for a better camp behind me, the build up to this fight all I could think about was winning this world title, and now it's here I don't know what to say,” concluded the freshly-minted WBO title-holder.
Warren was on hand to take things up, the promoter described the night as one of his happiest in boxing, revealing that it was one of the best fights he had witnessed. "That was one of the best nights I have been involved in up here," enthused Warren.
"I've had some great nights up here with Alex [Arthur] and Scott [Harrison], but you will really have to go some to find a better fight than that. It was a legendary fight. Both men showed so much heart in the ring. I don't think I have seen too many better fights."
Martinez returned to a hero's welcome in Puerto Rico, confirming to Boxingscene's Jhonny Gonzalez that weight had indeed been an issue. “I weighed in too low. I do not know why. At the weigh in I felt pretty good, but the next day I felt sick to my stomach,” revealed the former champion, who has vowed to bounce back from his first defeat.
Greenock's John Simpson warmed the crowd up for Burns during a hotly-contested chief supporting contest, his Commonwealth super-featherweight defence against Stephen Smith, though unsuccessful, was contentious and close enough to get the Scottish blood pumping.
Simpson won the title by defeating Paul Truscott in eight rounds last January, he defended the title successfully against Truscott and Steven Bell but failed to shine on Saturday night. Oddly, the 27-year-old has had three title fights in Scotland and has suffered defeat in every one of them, the former British featherweight champion boxes better on the road and gave Smith, 25, a stiff enough fight to justify a rematch, which would probably take place in Smith's hometown of Liverpool and could see Simpson reproduce some of his fine away form.
In this one, however, the tough Scot landed the pick of the early shots but lost his way somewhat when Smith started to use movement, holding and quick punching to pile up points. 'Swifty' showed exceptional speed at times, he was also galvanised by a cut to the right eyebrow in round three, the spurting blood forcing Stephen to produce his best work, in particular a whipped right hand to the body of the champion.
Simpson (125¼lb) reciprocated in the very next round, forcing home a right to the body that brought a nod of recognition from Smith (also 125¼lb), who tried to double up on the punch, throwing a right to the body and head towards the round's end.
Smith's cut was expertly sealed by cutsman Mick Williamson, the Scouser then showed a good boxing brain by keeping himself out of harm's way, as well as negating Simpson inside and boxing expertly, if infrequently, behind the jab during the middle rounds. Both men landed at the bell at the end of the seven, forcing referee Terry O'Connor to jump in and drag an apology from both boxers.
Simpson appeared fazed by Smith's hit-and-move approach, which brought howls of derision from the home fans, they felt that the Liverpudlian was holding too much, though in his defence Simpson was also falling into clinches and appeared unable to find the range when up close. Indeed, both were warned for holding in the eighth session. Simpson, a beast away from home, looked unsure before his own crowd, his jab belatedly came to the party in round nine only for Smith to counter the shot with a sweet right hand.
Simpson kept making the schoolboy error of looking at his opponent's gloves in order to anticipate the next shot, this cardinal sin was punished by a straight right hand from Smith, who was wrong-footing the champion, his movement and jab catching the eye late in the contest. Simpson tried to force the issue in the eleventh, breaking through with a right hook to the head and right uppercut when on the inside.
Smith was bleeding again during the latter stages, he had never gone beyond eight rounds and, naturally, his input faded dramatically in the final session, though Simpson, who has been twelve rounds on five occasions, was unable to capitalise, a right hook to the head the pick of his punches in the last round.
Scores of 116-114, from Victor Loughlin, 112-116, Ian John Lewis, which was echoed on my card, and 114-116 from Phil Edwards saw Smith win the title by split-decision, there were a few grumbles at ringside, the fight had been hard to score and the nature of the scores, two Englishmen scoring for Smith and the Scottish judge going for Simpson, leaves plenty of scope for a rematch, a fight that Simpson, who is now 21-7 (9), will still be confident of winning.
Smith is now 11-0 (6), he failed to box to his full potential but was taking on a tough champion away from home on a major bill, he can now consolidate his position and take onboard a few lessons, a rematch with Simpson, though another tough fight for the two-time ABA winner, would be a natural next step once Stephen has got a few defences of the title under his belt.
"What a warrior, what a tough lad and I'm the example that hard work pays off,” beamed the new champion, who is reported to have been hindered by a hand injury. “Everyone knows how tough, strong and fit he was, and he loosened one of my teeth. The main thing that surprised me was he's hard to hit inside and it got messy inside. That's maybe more down to me because I struggle there but I got long shots off so I tried to stick to that as much as I could. But all credit to the man, he fights anyone and he's a warrior."
Alex Arthur must be feeling a little bit sheepish today, he declared himself 'The best fighter in Scotland' earlier this week and reiterated this opinion after scoring a points win over Bermondsey's Peter McDonagh. Alex, who won by a 79-74 scoreline on Victor Loughlin's card, was unrepentant when interviewed after the victory.
“I am still the best fighter in Scotland, “ he blasted, though he may be forced to reappraise this belief after watching Burns wrench away a world title from a reigning holder, something Alex failed to do when ascending to the WBO super-featherweight crown.
Arthur, a former British, Commonwealth and European champion, was a man on a mission but had to deal with the slippery McDonagh, who used all the tricks in the book to keep Arthur at bay during their eight-threes contest. Alex (139lb) looked sluggish early, his cause was not helped by a desire to produce eye-catching right uppercuts, when he did land it was with crude, swinging right hands, these signs of rust led McDonagh (139lb) to chance his arm in the third round, a sign, perhaps, of how far Arthur has slipped in recent times.
Still, the Arthur of old made cameo appearances; a right hook to the head was followed by a hook-cum-uppercut in round four. Alex, however, failed to build on this success and was looking more 'Aged' than 'Amazing' thus far in his comeback contest. A burst of inspiration, coupled with McDonagh's fading pace, saw Arthur roll back the years in round five, a burst of quality shots forcing McDonagh to respond, and he did so, landing a winging left hook to the head of Arthur.
Arthur had sharpened the tools by the seventh, the question of whether he could close the show was now hanging over his performance, McDonagh failed to last the distance with Giuseppe Lauri, although that one was down to injury, so Arthur, a former world title holder, should have, would have been expected to, close the show but was unable to do so, McDonagh, now 15-19 (2), gritted his teeth when under fire and deserved to hear the final bell.
“I've found my weight class, I'm ready for a world title,” said Arthur, who may now be tempted to drop back down to super-featherweight in order to try and swipe Burns' crown. Alex defeated Ricky on points in 2006 and Frank Warren has indicated that the two could take part in a world title rematch. Arthur also praised the Glasgow crowd, revealing that he loved boxing in the city and sees it as his spiritual home. When asked about McDonagh's niggling performance, Arthur joked that he was in Church the next day and wouldn't be able to properly put Peter's 'hardy' performance into context.
Arthur, who is now 28-3 (20), kept his gloves on and joined the crowd for the next fight, Paul Appleby's first since the April 2009 loss to Martin Lindsay. The 23-year-old (133lb) looked tentative early against Yordan Vasilev (133lb) but could not help but make his height and reach advantage tell. A right uppercut was followed by right and left hooks to the body of the Bulgarian, who slumped to the canvas, the 26-year-old beat the count but was a marked man, Appleby landed another left hook to the body to floor his opponent at the round's end.
The visitor landed enough shots to redden the right eye of Appleby, a brace of hooks, left and right, had put the South Queensferry fighter on his guard early in the first and the former British champion now had to prise apart his opponent's defence. Paul used his right uppercut as a range finder before landing right hooks around the side, Yordan was offering nothing in return and referee Kenny Pringle was justified in calling it a night at 0:59 of the round. Appleby moves to 15-1 (10); Yordan falls to 7-17-2 (1).
The night kicked off with a hard-fought draw between Liam 'Beefy' Smith (156lb), brother of Stephen and British champion Paul, and Terry Carruthers (158lb), who was coming off a win over Lee Brewster. Smith, 22, came out looking for the right uppercut, this left him open to Carruther's left hook and the Brummie landed a right uppercut for good measure in the early going. Smith roared back with a straight right hand but was, again, tagged by the left hook of Carruthers.
Terry, 24, was steamed up. Liam tried to seize the initiative in the second round only for his own eagerness to prove his undoing, he was too open and seemed happy to take one to give one, with both men trading left hooks during this stanza. Smith's desire, however, was impressive to behold, by the end of the second he was right back in the four-threes contest only for his earlier mistakes to resurface in the third when he again tried to land lead right uppercuts, which, in turn, led to him taking more left hooks. Liam adjusted, throwing the right hand straight through the middle, and the round became a 'left hook versus right hand' thriller, with Smith's 'twofer' approach starting to backfire on him.
Both men sensed that the fight was there for the taking going into the final session yet the now 6-5-5 (1) Carruthers was out-hustled early in the round, he regrouped just in time to blaze with Liam, 5-0-1 (1), for the final thirty seconds of an absorbing fight. There could be no complaints when referee Kenny Pringle raised the hands of both men at the final bell, scoring it 38-38; Boxingscene had it 38-38 also and would welcome a rematch
Other action saw Stephen Ormond (144lb) keep his focus against Johnny Greaves (144lb), who tends to mess opponents about en route to losing on points, three of his last five have seen him on the losing end of point decisions. Ormond, from Dublin, adopted a buzz saw approach and was not taken in by Greaves' attempts to play with his mind, 'The Rock' showed poise, balance and energy aplenty during his four-threes win, though his profligate approach will need to be tweaked when he steps up in class.
Greaves, from London, was cut by his right eyebrow in the second round, he took a solid right hand in the third session and his impudent approach was met with an avalanche of shots from Ormond, who has a very good engine and kept his composure when Greaves started boloing his shots and showboating off the jab in the fourth. This threw Ormond a little, he also had a nosebleed by this point, a left and right hook from Greaves doing the damage, but the Irishman regrouped with a right hand and left hook to the head of Greaves as the fight drew to its end. Ormond is 7-0 (2), Greaves is without a win in his last 17, he falls to 2-53 (1).
Another prospect, John Thain (152lb) motored to four-threes win, the 6' Scot handed Paddy Pollock (155½lb) his tenth defeat, against six wins and three draws, and is now 2-0.