Burns admits weight battle made him feel like a ‘zombie’

That was how it was for the 28-year-old from Coatbridge when he made his third defence of the WBO super-featherweight title against England’s Nicky Cook in Liverpool in July.

“The day of the weigh-in you should have seen the state of me trying to get a pound off,” Burns said yesterday in the build-up to his clash with Australian Michael Katsidis for the interim WBO world lightweight championship at Wembley Arena.

“I was like a zombie. People were coming up to talk to me and I was so drained I didn’t want to. My whole attitude was I couldn’t be bothered.”

To his immense relief Cook complained of back trouble after taking a count just six seconds into the contest and his corner threw in the towel after 93 seconds, extending Burns’ record to 32 wins and two defeats. “It was a big weight off my shoulders,” said Burns, although it is the fact that he has been able to put some weight on that has made his training so much more enjoyable this time.

“I can concentrate on the boxing now – it was getting so hard to make the weight,” he added. “Going up to lightweight was always on the cards. I’m still dieting, but I can eat more, especially with the hours I put in at the gym and the intensity of it.

“I do believe I will be stronger at lightweight. I’ve always said I want to fight the best in the division and it’s going to be a cracking fight.”

Katsidis is older by three years and has four losses in 32 fights. He won the same title at Wembley in 2007 when he stopped Graham Earl in the fifth round and did an even quicker job against Kevin Mitchell at West Ham last year. His next two fights were defeats to Juan Manuel Marquez and Robert Guerrero, both in Las Vegas, but back in Australia in August he knocked out Michael Lozada.

“England has become a bit of a home to me and it’s great to be back,” Katsidis said.

“I’ve had great preparation and I’m ready to do the business. I took on the hardest fights possible after the Mitchell fight and gained a lot of experience.

“It’s going to be a fantastic fight – when the chips are down he digs deep.”

On the same bill George Groves takes on Paul Smith for the British and Commonwealth super-middleweight title.

Meanwhile, former world heavyweight champion David Haye admits “only time will tell” whether the Klitschko brothers try to lure him out of retirement with a shot at redemption.

Haye officially quit on his 31st birthday this month, despite ending on a low note in July with a high-profile unification loss against Wladimir Klitschko.

However, the former WBA champ would undoubtedly lace up his gloves once more to take on Wladimir or brother Vitali should the right offer be made.

The Londoner, who lost his belt to the Ukrainian IBF/WBO champion in Hamburg, yesterday launched the biography Making Haye and in the book admits he has simply “retired from fighting anyone without the Klitschko surname”.

The former cruiserweight king, who will pursue an acting career in the future, said: “The book leaves it open a little. You never know, there’s always another chapter, whether it’s me retiring and you never hear from me again, or because I go out there and become a big success with the acting. It’s the end of one chapter and there are plenty of chapters to come in the rest of my life.

“Only time will tell whether the Klitschkos need me more than I need them.

“They won’t believe that. But it depends what they want out of boxing.

“If they want guaranteed easy victories then they can do what they’ve always done but, if they want a tough challenge, you’d think they would want to beat down my door.”