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Ricky Burns vs. Joseph Laryea today
There should be streams available for this fight, so people in North America can watch it.
Ricky Burns won many fans everywhere with one of the best fights of 2010: Burns-Martinez.
From BoxRec main page:
Ricky Burns won many fans everywhere with one of the best fights of 2010: Burns-Martinez.
From BoxRec main page:
Tonight sees Coatbridge boxer Ricky Burns return to Glasgow's Braehead Arena to make the second defence of the WBO super-featherweight crown he so memorably won against Roman Martinez in September of last year.
The fight is being broadcast live by SKY Sports.
If all had gone to plan, we should have been looking forward to an all-Scottish world title showdown with Burns defending against former British featherweight champion Paul Appleby. Appleby fought on the undercard of Burns-Evensen against the unheralded Ghanaian Joseph Laryea for the super-featherweight WBO inter-continental bauble. Although the title itself is meaningless it was on the line in order for Paul to obtain a high enough ranking with the WBO to allow Burns to make a voluntary defence against his fellow countryman. Of course, Laryea hadn’t read the script and used his long probing jab to keep an out-of-sorts Appleby off balance for the whole fight, winning clearly (if you discount the one judge who shockingly gave Appleby the nod) by decision.
Laryea has therefore found himself back in Scotland in the unlikely position of challenging for the WBO title this weekend.
Laryea sports a decent if unremarkable 14-4 (11) record, including three losses in his last seven. He has fought only five opponents with more wins than losses and of those, has lost three. His two wins coming against a 1-0 fighter (according to BoxRec) who went on to lose his next five fights and of course Appleby. That’s not the type of record you would expect from a world-title challenger and it was clear he was only ever meant to be a stepping-stone for Appleby.
All credit must go to the Ghanaian for the causing the upset but the resulting match up is uninspiring to say the least.
The one concern that Burns’ team may have is that Ricky often boxes to the level of his opponent. If you watched his wins against Kevin O’Hara or Youssef Al Hamidi, you would have been forgiven for thinking the Scot was going to be brutally exposed against the division’s number one Roman Martinez. Burns however raised his game immeasurably and the rest is history.
Ricky then went on to win clearly against career featherweight Andreas Evensen but admitted himself that he failed to get out of second gear for the twelve rounder. If Burns doesn’t impose himself on Laryea early on then it is possible that Saturday could prove to be a frustrating night's work for the champion.
Laryea will look to use his “Stretch Armstrong” like jab to command the centre of the ring and may well prove an awkward foe. However, Burns is a level or two above the African and if he boxes anywhere near his best then he should manage to frustrate his opponent with his superior boxing skills and speed, forcing a late stoppage.
The undercard action features golden boy James DeGale in an eight round warm-up for his upcoming showdown with George Groves as well as Paul Appleby’s return to action in a six-rounder against previous Burns victim Youssef Al Hamidi. Exciting prospect Callum Johnson will be looking for another stoppage in his second pro-bout and former amateur standout Stephen Simmons makes his pro-debut.
The fight is being broadcast live by SKY Sports.
If all had gone to plan, we should have been looking forward to an all-Scottish world title showdown with Burns defending against former British featherweight champion Paul Appleby. Appleby fought on the undercard of Burns-Evensen against the unheralded Ghanaian Joseph Laryea for the super-featherweight WBO inter-continental bauble. Although the title itself is meaningless it was on the line in order for Paul to obtain a high enough ranking with the WBO to allow Burns to make a voluntary defence against his fellow countryman. Of course, Laryea hadn’t read the script and used his long probing jab to keep an out-of-sorts Appleby off balance for the whole fight, winning clearly (if you discount the one judge who shockingly gave Appleby the nod) by decision.
Laryea has therefore found himself back in Scotland in the unlikely position of challenging for the WBO title this weekend.
Laryea sports a decent if unremarkable 14-4 (11) record, including three losses in his last seven. He has fought only five opponents with more wins than losses and of those, has lost three. His two wins coming against a 1-0 fighter (according to BoxRec) who went on to lose his next five fights and of course Appleby. That’s not the type of record you would expect from a world-title challenger and it was clear he was only ever meant to be a stepping-stone for Appleby.
All credit must go to the Ghanaian for the causing the upset but the resulting match up is uninspiring to say the least.
The one concern that Burns’ team may have is that Ricky often boxes to the level of his opponent. If you watched his wins against Kevin O’Hara or Youssef Al Hamidi, you would have been forgiven for thinking the Scot was going to be brutally exposed against the division’s number one Roman Martinez. Burns however raised his game immeasurably and the rest is history.
Ricky then went on to win clearly against career featherweight Andreas Evensen but admitted himself that he failed to get out of second gear for the twelve rounder. If Burns doesn’t impose himself on Laryea early on then it is possible that Saturday could prove to be a frustrating night's work for the champion.
Laryea will look to use his “Stretch Armstrong” like jab to command the centre of the ring and may well prove an awkward foe. However, Burns is a level or two above the African and if he boxes anywhere near his best then he should manage to frustrate his opponent with his superior boxing skills and speed, forcing a late stoppage.
The undercard action features golden boy James DeGale in an eight round warm-up for his upcoming showdown with George Groves as well as Paul Appleby’s return to action in a six-rounder against previous Burns victim Youssef Al Hamidi. Exciting prospect Callum Johnson will be looking for another stoppage in his second pro-bout and former amateur standout Stephen Simmons makes his pro-debut.
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