Burns v Martinez in Puerto Rico

[Wales]

What a great fight! has a very 80's feel to it as not many brits go to the backyard to fight for the titles nowdays. I or one wish Ricky all the best, really cant wait and hope sky pick it up!

[Bomber 1]

Im tipping Burns to win there..

[15829]

its gonna be hard but hopefully he can pick up the win. wonder if frank would of won the purse bids if it was mitchell who was facing martinez

[leforge]

Thought Warren would have tried to stage fight in Scotland..

[ourkid1984]

Really tough test for Burns and not sure if he can win it will need a ko of some kind.

It is about time we had more fights like this as a loss against Martinez would give him more respect than a few wins against nobodies and if he wins it would be great for his career and catapult him into the big time, it's win win.

Does anyone know when it will be though?

[15829]

think its march 6th

[alexpaterson]

I really like Burns very good boxer it is a very tough fight for him as Martinez is a good fighter and its in his back yard I would love Burns to outbox Martinez and win a decision but it'll be tough for him.

Good luck to him, Billy Nelson and all their team

[nh1]

Would like to see this on TV, but hold out no hope of Sky showing it...And don't suppose Primetime will be interested, either...

[MrBoxingUK2]

Im tipping Burns to win there..

same here mate. burns has the chin and ability. will he turn up on the night tho? im never certain with ricky. he can look great 1 night then terrible the next. burns close decision

[Deno1986]

Would like to see this on TV, but hold out no hope of Sky showing it...And don't suppose Primetime will be interested, either...

I wonder would Primetime tie it in with Dirrell-Abraham in the States. Unlikely I'd say but I think thats the best hope.

[bennie]

Pointless fight for martinez good luck to burns like to see him make the 5th

Burns is the mandatory.

[sgtcecil]

good luck rickster. fair play for taking the fight away from home. does anyone know what the winning purse was and if FW did make a bid what was it

[bennie]

The boxing history books flap as Ricky Burns, an unlikely lad from Scotland, steps into the shoes of the great Ken Buchanan on March 6 in distant Puerto Rico.
Forty years ago Edinburgh’s just-as-unlikely Buchanan made his way to the same tiny island which has unearthed one gifted fighter after another and wrested the world lightweight title from the head of Ismael Laguna on a split 15-round decision in the blazing heat of a September afternoon, Buchanan required a parasol in his corner but threw too many punches for the oh so smooth Laguna as he ‘willed’ his way to the undisputed title and into those record books.
Kenny would soon beat Laguna again.
To be the best one had to beat the best back then but today a man can call himself world champion and avoid the best fighters. This is why Burns deserves respect for his decision to enter the backyard of Roman “Rocky” Martinez in a crack at the WBO super-featherweight title. Burns, who has never fought outside of Britain before, faces a champion who is no Laguna but is still quick and dangerous, a man whose jab is one of those ‘real’ jabs, a man who can whack, who is unbeaten and who won the title as Burns now has to – in The Lion’s Den.
Martinez stopped lean Dagenham star Nicky Cook in an exciting give-and-take encounter in this country last March. Martinez, rocked in the opening round, struggled in the early going but showed his class with a beautiful left uppercut to put Cook down in a fateful fourth round in which Cook never recovered. Cook had won the title from Alex Arthur; Arthur holds a win over Burns. Perhaps this is breaking it down too far. There are rays of hope for Team Burns on the Cook evidence. Since then Martinez has defended the title with a nine-round stoppage of Colombia’s Feider Viloria in Puerto Rico, wearing his man down with body shots and finishing the job to the head. Burns, at a lofty 5ft 10ins, will probably also get a feel of those body shots.
Tall, talented, sharp-hitting and superfit, Burns has learned from his only career defeats to Arthur and Leeds puncher Carl "Ingemar" Johanneson, both of them on points in 12-rounders. Johanneson had him down three times but Burns showed guts and character to stay the course. This was in Leeds. He has travelled, of sorts, if you look at his fight with Johanneson and a fine eight-round decision over a then unbeaten Graham Earl at Wembley back in 2005. Burns, who took the latter at late notice, licked the reigning British lightweight champion on his own ‘manor’. He took on the big-hitting Arthur in Arthur’s own Edinburgh.
From Coatbridge in the shadow of Glasgow, the challenger came back from those defeats with a string of low-key victories before winning the Commonwealth super-featherweight title in 2008 and hammering Manchester’s once-feared Michael Gomez in seven rounds in one of three solid defences to date. He is not a puncher by rule, more a counterpuncher, a counterpuncher with excellent movement and stamina. He’s done 10 rounds or more in three of his last five outings, including two full 12-rounders. He’s on a winning run of 12 contests.
Burns is not without a shout in March but he has to go out there and grab the horns of fate and steer them his way, just as Buchanan did all those years ago - he has to shake up the boxing world.

[Deno1986]

Just to echo Bennie, Burns deserves a lot of respect for going into the 'lions den'. It's something we don't see nowadays when a British or Irish fighter heads to the oppositions backyard. Best of luck to him, it will be a immensely tough task to beat Martinez but at the end of the day he is in the ring and he has a chance to do it.

[Hagler2002]

Good luck to Burns but in all honesty I don't see him getting past 5 rounds.

[Wales]

Pointless fight for martinez good luck to burns like to see him make the 5th

Burns is the mandatory.

wow poor rocky

I know, crying shame he's getting a good pay day and a world title shot in the sport he's trained in since being a child... poor sod, much rather see him fight in leisure centres up and down the UK for celtic titles and such.

[doctorboxing]

I really hope Ricky can do this but without a doubt it will be the toughest fight of his career. Beating a washed up Gomez is nothing compared to this. I think Ricky can rise to the challenge though and bring the world title back to Scotland.

SKY SPORTS are you listening? You have to show this fight.

[GlobalBox]

Think we need to get Martinez into context he is pretty decent but that is as far as it goes. I had the good fortune to see some of his recent fights before the Cook win and thought that was a 50/50 fight going in. Cook was always going to be the classier boxer, whilst Martinez was going to keep coming and attempt to drag him into a war as he has done with many of his victories.

Cook was in control until the 4th and with the greatest respect to Nicky I think Burns has the better chin at this stage of his career and don't see him being so affected by the shots that Martinez does land.

Burns has a huge task there is no doubt about that but the actual size of the job has been magnified bythe location of the fight, namely Puerto Rico.

Many gave Burns a decent shout at this if it had been taking place over here as was rumoured and he is more than capable of giving Martinez the angles that keep him turning and hopefully off balance to land anything heavy early on.

It will get harder as it goes on as Martinez really cranks it up from round 5 onwards in his fights but I would not be the most surprised to hear that Ricky gets a bum decision here and his stock rises accordingly.

[charlieb]

The same Martinez who chinned Cook? He was awful. He's definitely got a bit of power but he didn't seem too durable himself.

I'd give Burns more than a fair chance of upsetting him. Easier said than done I guess.

[Hagler2002]

The same Martinez who chinned Cook? He was awful. He's definitely got a bit of power but he didn't seem too durable himself.

I'd give Burns more than a fair chance of upsetting him. Easier said than done I guess.

He was far from awful, he did take a couple of rounds to settle but when he did he looked a different class for the remaining 3mins of the fight before leveling Cook.

[Autobarn]

is burns big, strong, powerful, fast or mobile enough?

doubt it. don't mean to be nasty, but he's nowt special, and i doubt he's world title material. my guess is all this shows is that FW can pull strings with the WBO getting his fighters title chances.

[Asterix]

The same Martinez who chinned Cook? He was awful. He's definitely got a bit of power but he didn't seem too durable himself.

I'd give Burns more than a fair chance of upsetting him. Easier said than done I guess.

He was far from awful, he did take a couple of rounds to settle but when he did he looked a different class for the remaining 3mins of the fight before leveling Cook.

Yeah, that's how I remember it. I've not seen Burns fight, I don't think, but if he beats Martinez then that's a fantastic result.

[El Raincoat]

Gotta love fights like this. I'd say Martinez will win but Burns is a live underdog. Martinez has looked very beatable so far, though he'll be tough to beat at home. I hope Ricky goes and does the best he can and then if it goes to the scorecards gets a fair crack at the whip. I hate some of the terrible decisions of late.

[charlieb]

The same Martinez who chinned Cook? He was awful. He's definitely got a bit of power but he didn't seem too durable himself.

I'd give Burns more than a fair chance of upsetting him. Easier said than done I guess.

He was far from awful, he did take a couple of rounds to settle but when he did he looked a different class for the remaining 3mins of the fight before leveling Cook.

Not saying Burns has the beating of him, but he certainly didn't strike me as a quality operator, he was being effectively handled by Cook until he caught him on the ropes. I'd give Burns a better chance at pulling the upset if he had a little power, that's the sticking point for me because from what I saw, Martinez had a decent dig, average skills and wasn't too sturdy.

If I was Burns I'd look to go to the body and smother his work as much as possible. If he can avoid taking flush shots I could see him outworking him.

[bennie]

I think it's fair to say that Martinez is one of those 'improving' world champions, which makes him dangerous.