Ricky Burns, Kirill Relikh Have 30 Days To Reach a deal.

[Stuffs]

Was at his last fight in Bolton.

Got a decent dig, but Burns should be able to handle him without too much problem.

I knew i'd seen him on B-Nation recently,i gather it was the Catterall/Hughes card??

Yeah, was on about half way through that. Took out his oppo in four.

[olij999]

Filing this fight in my enormous "who gives a monkey's" pile. What's led to this fight (and to a whole load of similar WBA title fights) is that holding a spurious minor WBA belt gives a boxer a ranking that is far higher than they would otherwise merit, which then leads to them being used by champions for a soft defence. I can't really criticise the promoter or champion for picking them - if I was a champion looking for a voluntary, I'd pick the easiest-looking option in the rankings. It's the ranking body that is to blame. Same with the WBO, which is why (I believe) Mzonke Fana was ranked.

No doubt I will be eating humble pie, with a side order of words and hat, if Burns loses, though.

[crusader]

He looks crude, and it's hard for me to say he's much of a puncher considering how dreadful his opposition's been (hasn't beaten anyone currently above #382 here). I watched his fight with Joaquim Carneiro (stopped 6 times in 9 losses; stopped in 1 shortly before fighting Relikh) and Relikh couldn't drop or seriously hurt him despite continually landing flush powershots from the opening bell .

Pretty laughable that he was named mandatory; I'm sure we've all come to expect soft opponents, but this is taking it to another level of undeserving.