By Declan Taylor
RICKY BURNS is on a collision course with Jose Zepeda as he bids to regain his old WBO lightweight world title - and could face him in in London or Glasgow before the summer's end.
The Glaswegian won the interim belt back in 2011 when he beat Michael Katsidis and was installed as full champion two months later. He made four successful defences of the title but his two-and-a-half year reign was ended by Terence Crawford in 2014.
After a brief foray into the light-welterweight mix, Burns is back down at 9st 9lbs [135-pounds] and his promoter Eddie Hearn has started talks regarding a clash with Zepeda, who lost to Terry Flanagan in bizarre circumstances in Manchester last year.
Big-punching Zepeda was unbeaten when he arrived in England but his shoulder popped out of its socket in the first round and he was forced to retire, leaving Flanagan to celebrate an unexpected early victory to claim the vacant WBO title.
The undefeated Mancunian will put that belt on the line in an English derby against Liverpool's Derry Mathews on March 12 but Burns and his team are busy making plans to land themselves another shot at it.
But it looks likely he will have to go through Zepeda first, with talks over a final eliminator ongoing. The 26-year-old Californian has not had much luck since the Flanagan fight and his comeback bout ended in a first-round no contest on the advice of the ringside doctor when he suffered a cut following a clash of heads.
He got back to winning ways in January, stopping Ammeth Diaz, and now another trip to the UK could be on the cards with him ranked No.2 by the WBO and Burns at three.
It has been suggested that the fight could take place on April 9 at the 02 Arena, although Hearn has also mentioned that he is planning on taking Burns back to Scotland before the summer is out.
Petr Petrov had emerged as another potential opponent for Burns, with the Madrid-based Russian ranked highly with the WBO, IBF and WBA.
However, Hearn appears to have decided against pursuing him as a potential for Burns, with Petrov and highly rated Ghanaian star Richard Commey set to clash in a final eliminator for Rances Barthelemy's IBF strap.
Hearn said: “We’re looking at a WBO eliminator for Ricky Burns.
“Petrov has been asked to fight Richard Commey in an IBF eliminator but we’re looking at the WBO for Ricky. Petrov is a name which has been banded around for Burns.
“But so has Jose Zepeda, who got injured against Flanagan.
“We’ve also got a big fight in the making for Burns and we’d like to go back to Glasgow. I can’t read a day on Twitter without some geezer from Scotland accusing us of turning our back on Scotland. We haven’t turned our back, Ricky Burns just hasn’t been in big enough fights to headline.
“We’re trying to find that fight. We’re close and I’d like to go up there for a big one. We’ve got a few kids now like Charlie Flynn and Joe Ham, a couple of Commonwealth Games fighters who would also fit that bill.”