Ricky Burns Targets a Roman Martinez Showdown
By Terence Dooley
Scotland’s Ricky Burns fights in an eight-round attraction on the undercard of Amir Khan’s WBA light-welterweight title dust-up with Dmitiry Salita at the Radio Metro Arena, Newcastle on December the 5th. The 26-year-old hopes to use this fight as a warm-up ahead of a possible WBO super-featherweight title showdown with current incumbent Roman Martinez.
Burns has told The Press Association that Scotland - which has been short of world champions since losing Alex Arthur, to inactivity, and Scott Harrison, through too much activity, most of it illegal - needs a world title holder and Ricky, 27-2 (7 KO’s), aims to give the fans something to cheer about.
“Scotland's going to have a new world champion next year,” declared Burns. “An eight-rounder is going to take away any rust that I've got. Obviously, with a world title on the horizon it's a massive opportunity for me, something I've always dreamed of. I'm going to grab this chance with both hands.
“Although the opponent has not been named yet, I'll be out there and I'll just be treating this fight the same as any other fight. I've trained hard. I've been training for the last 10 weeks for this fight. Obviously, there is disappointment with Kevin Mitchell moving up but, at the end of the day, when I was offered the world title fight I did have to grab it with both hands. If this chance comes, I'll be more than ready for it.”
Burns shot to prominence by upsetting Graham Earl, then undefeated, in 2005 and despite the odd loss, to Alex Arthur and Carl Johanneson respectively, the Coatbridge native has worked his way to the top of the domestic tree, a win on the 5th will give him a chance to sharpen his tools before setting his sights on Martinez.
Tickets for the show are priced at £30, £40, £50, £85, £125, £200 and £300, and are available from www.metroradioarena.co.uk and www.seetickets.com.
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