On Saturday afternoon September 7th, WBO Lightweight champion Ricky Burns will defend his crown when he takes on tough veteran Ray Beltran in a bout that will be televised in the United States on WealthTV and www.wealthtv.com.
“We are excited to be able to bring this outstanding five-star world title fight to United States boxing fans,” said WealthTV President Charles Herring.
“Beltran is a tough Mexican American fighter who cut his teeth and earned this opportunity the hard way. We just had top American heavyweight Tony Thompson go over to the United Kingdom twice and score big wins over David Price on WealthTV and it would not shock me if Beltran follows suit and brings home the title.”
The fight is promoted by Matchroom Sport and will originate from Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.
“I’m delighted that Ricky’s fourth defense of his WBO title will be shown live in the States on WealthTV,” said Burns’ promoter Eddie Hearn.
“Raymundo Beltran promises to be the toughest test yet of Ricky’s reign and with some big unification bouts on the horizon for Ricky, American fight fans will enjoy seeing the best of the Scotsman in front a passionate sold-old Glasgow crowd,” said Hearn.
Burns of Coatbridge, Scotland has a record of 36-2 with 11 knockouts and has not lost a fight in over six years which spans 21 fights. He won the WBO Super Featherweight title with a thrilling 12 round unanimous decision over Roman Martinez. He made three defenses of his crown which includes wins over Andreas Evensen and Joseph Laryea. He then stopped former WBO Super featherweight champion Nicky Cook in one round.
Burns moved up to Lightweight and in his first fight at the higher weight class, he scored a 12 round unanimous decision over former champion Michael Katsidis to win the WBO Interim title.
Burns won the full title with a twelve round unanimous decision over former WBA champion Paulus Moses. Burns looked great in taking out fellow United Kingdom fighter Kevin Mitchell in four rounds. In his last bout, Burns had to dig deep but he retained the crown after Jose Gonzalez had to retire on the stool after nine rounds on May 11th.
Burns is 8-0 in world title fights.
Born in Los Mochis, Mexico, Beltran comes from an area that breeds great fighters. Now a resident of Phoenix, Arizona Beltran has a record of 28-6 with 17 knockouts.
“Ray Beltran is the Mexican buzzsaw who is always in the kind of action fight that fans like to see. Beltran will fight in a real entertaining battle against Ricky Burns. Boxing fans are in for a real treat,” said Bob Arum, CEO, Top Rank.
The 31 year-old has fought all over the United States in opponent’s hometowns and has had quality wins. He had a win over David Torres (21-1) before being on the wrong end of two debatable decisions to future world title challenger and undefeated Sharif Bogere and undefeated Luis Ramos Jr.
Beltran had won three in a row which started with his biggest win to date when he scored a ten round majority decision over then number-one ranked Hank Lundy in Lundy’s backyard of Atlantic City. He followed that up with a ten round unanimous decision over former world title challenger Ji-Hoon Kim.
In his next bout, Beltran scored a ten round unanimous decision over Alejandro Rodriguez on April 27th in Austin, Texas.
Beltran trains out of the Wild Card Gym and has been a frequent sparring partner with eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. Beltran will be making his first attempt at a world title.
