Ricky Burns will be looking over his battle from this weekend just gone against Julius Indongo on Saturday night with disappointment. There was little for the former three time world title holder to take away from the defeat but even then it would appear Burns still has the fire in his belly as he refuses to contemplate retiring from the sport he loves so much.
Burns’ performance in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday night surprised many. He came into the fight against the Nambian IBF light welter-weight holder as the favourite but his performance on the night suggested he was never really going to able to convincingly beat his opponent and had a fight on his hands.
The Nambian, Indongo has certainly raised his profile after his fight with Burns. Not many had heard of Indongo and little was known about him other than his 40-second knockout of Eduard Troyanovsky back in December last year in Moscow where he won the IBF Welter-Weight title Burns was expected to take of him.
Burns rightly lost on a wide unanimous points decision. Judge Howard Foster scored the game 120 to 108 in Indongo’s favour, with Leszek Jankowiak awarding a 8 point difference Indogo’s way and the final judge’s score card by José Roberto Torres also had a clear 4 point difference between the two fighters.
Burns’ opponent throughout the fight demonstrated superior strength. Burns struggled to deal with Indongo’s physique who proved too big and powerful in the end for Burns. Burns’ clearly felt he under-estimated his opponent suggesting he would go into hiding on social media after the fight.
“He was better than we thought he was, he was more awkward,” Burns said, before acknowledging that he expected a negative backlash from the public. “I’ll turn my social media off for a couple of weeks because I know what’s coming.
Despite this Burns went on to suggest he still had plenty of desire in him to still be a big fight challenger and has no intention of walking away from Boxing any time soon.
“A fight’s a fight, I’m not afraid of going in with the best and boxing is all I have ever wanted to do. There are still some great big fights out there for me.”
Watch highlights via Box Legends YouTube Channel of Burns and Indongo’s fight.
The next path in Burns’ career is unknown. Antony Corolla was widely being tipped as a potential next opponent for Burns but that looks unlikely now with Corolla suggesting he would not be willing to step up a division if the fight wasn’t going to be for a shot at a title.
Retirement for Burns isn’t an option, he’s previously hinted at wanting to go beyond a 100 competitive fights – however at his current rate of fighting that would mean he would be fighting beyond his fifties so seems a little too ambitious even for someone with 3 previous world titles. Burns’ reasons for continuing with Boxing may also be related to his own financial situation. The boxer had to declare bankruptcy 2 years ago after losing a lengthy court case with his former manager and promoter Frank Warren.
“Ricky Burns would want to fight if it was a four-rounder at Bethnal Green, that’s just how he is,” Eddie Hearn, his promoter, said. “Although it was a convincing win for Indongo, it is not like he got battered, he was outskilled by the better fighter.
Burn’s has been in this position before so will be well versed to deal with the challenges he faces with his career going forward. In 2014, he lost his WBO Lightweight title to Terence Crawford and then got beaten by a Montenegrin fighter – Dejan Zlaticanin. Many thought Burns’ wouldn’t recover from that defeat but he managed to revive his career two years later when he was world champion again for the third time.
We thought overall Burns was poor – he was over powered by his opponent and never looked like in any stage of the fight he was going to threaten his opponent. Despite this Burns’ showed a lot of heart to try and stay in the contest but ultimately his opponent looked a far superior fighter and the judges scoring seemed to fairly reflect that – how did you guys score it – leave your thoughts in the comments box below …
