By Terence Dooley

Ricky Burns is set to announce the first defence of his WBO super-featherweight title later this week.   The Scotsman defends in Glasgow on December 4th with a venue and opponent expected to be announced at a press conference this Thursday. 

Burns won the belt after a pulsating encounter with Roman Martinez at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow last month.  Ricky was floored in the first only to turn on the afterburners as the fight progressed to wrest the belt from Roman's grasp.  Scores of 115-112, twice, and 115-113 saw Burns crowned before his adoring fans.  The Coatbridge-based fighter admitted that he is still coming to terms with the win when speaking exclusively to Boxingscene.

“It is still sinking in,” said Burns.  “I'm still the same Ricky Burns.  After the fight, I was on top of the world so it took a while to sink that it was a big win over a big name at the weight.  I knew when we got into the later rounds, ten, eleven, twelve, that I could take the fight as long as I kept the pressure on.  Obviously he was a big puncher so I knew I still had to be careful.”

Indeed, a right hand dumped the Scottish boxer to the seat of his pants towards the end of an evenly contested first round, a wave of concern spread over the venue at this point.  However, Burns, 29-2 (7), used the knockdown as a call to arms.

“Although I was down in the first round I recovered quickly,” revealed the 27-year-old.  “I was more off-balance and got caught with better shots than that later in the fight.  I knew beforehand that I had a good chin so I just got up and as the fight went on I started getting into it more.  It was a fight that I really enjoyed.”

Martinez fought the quintessential puncher's fight, bursts of inactivity followed by short, violent outbreaks of solid punching.  Burns' head was knocked back by a big left hook as Martinez sought to make his power tell on the contest.

“I remember that one,” laughed Burns when asked about the left hook in question.  “Again it was a good shot.  But I took it well and had sparred with bigger guys so I knew that my chin wasn't suspect.  I'm always willing to fight anybody and it doesn't matter how big a puncher they are.  I've shown that in my career.  Big punchers don't bother me, not one bit.”

Burns' title win was underpinned by lessons learned earlier in his career; the former Commonwealth boss lost his first two major title fights, against Alex Arthur, for the British, Commonwealth and European titles in 2006, and Carl Johanneson, in a 2007 challenge for the British belt, yet never lost faith in his ability.  A Commonwealth title win over Osumanu Akaba in 2008 was followed by consolidation wins over Michael Gomez and Kevin O'Hara – proof, if needed, that losing a fight or two is not the end of a prospect's journey.  Billy Nelson, who trains Burns, also had a big role in Ricky's march to the top.

“You can learn from defeats,” stressed Burns.  “Things were different early in my career and it was a case that I was maybe that wee bit inexperienced, but I gained through those fights and over the years I've seen things come together nicely in my training and fights.  Now I'm all set and ready to go for the next one.  I've already started training for my next fight, which will be up in Glasgow in December, so we got straight into that after the Martinez win.”

Scottish aficionados have had it hard in recent times, Scott Harrison's fall from grace robbing them of their sole world class fighter.  Alex Arthur was awarded the vacant WBO 130lb title in 2008 only to lose it in his first defence, Alex's recent slump in form further dispiriting the fanatical Scots.  Burns, though, has lifted the nation; conversely, the fighter revealed that the Glasgow crowd had raised him at crucial moments during the Martinez clash.

He said: “The crowd made that night extra special.  I always get a great crowd coming to support me and they really gave me a lift in the times in the fight when things got tough for me.  I hope they come out and support me again for my first defence.”

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