Burns ready for first lightweight contest

Former world champion Ricky Burns feels he is facing the biggest challenge of his career as he steps up a weight to fight Michael Katsidis – but he is confident he can pull off an upset.

Burns won the WBO super-featherweight title against huge favourite and previously unbeaten Roman Martinez last year after bouncing back from a first-round knockdown to triumph following a stunning 12 rounds at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.

The Scot relinquished his belt after three successful defences to move to lightweight and could not have asked for a much tougher introduction than facing former champion Katsidis for the interim WBO title at Wembley Arena next month.

The hard-hitting Australian has a record of 23 knockouts in 32 fights but Burns believes he is capable of proving the doubters wrong again. The 28-year-old said: “I’d say this is a bigger fight and a harder fight than the Roman Martinez fight.

“Katsidis is one of the greats in boxing just now. You name it, he has been there and done it. He has been in with the best in the division and he has only ever lost to the top fighters at lightweight. He’s been over to the UK before and beat Graham Earl and, more recently, Kevin Mitchell so I know this is going to be a hard, hard fight. But the way things have been going in the gym, as long as I take what we have been doing here into the fight and stay focused, I can do well.

“I think the first half of the fight is going to the toughest, trying to keep him away, because he is a good pressure fighter. But I do see me pulling this one off.”

Katsidis saw off Earl after five rounds and stopped Mitchell in the third round at Upton Park last year. But Burns has also beaten Earl and is sure he can triumph in the 5 November contest, which will be screened live on free-to-air channel BoxNation, available on Sky channel 456.

“People are writing me off already,” the Coatbridge fighter said. “When you go in these chat sites or boxing forums, people are saying I don’t have a chance, that he is going to walk all over me. That’s what everyone was saying about Roman Martinez as well. So come November 5, I’m going to prove a lot of people wrong again.”

Burns is relieved to have stepped up a weight and to be able to put more into his training at Billy Nelson’s Fighting Scots gym in Stepps, Glasgow. “I’m just so much happier now in boxing,” he said. “I can concentrate more on the boxing side of it and the training side of it rather than worrying about what I’m eating, how much I’ve got to come off.

“My diet has stayed the same, I’m just able to eat maybe double what I would usually be eating [a lightweight can weigh 5lbs more than a super fetherweight].

“Being able to eat that bit more, being able to put that extra wee bit more into training, I think is going to make a big difference come fight night.”

Meanwhile, Scottish middleweight Craig McEwan flew into Mexico City from Edinburgh yesterday morning two weeks ahead of his HBO televised showdown in Cancun with Brooklyn’s Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin, also on 5 November. McEwan has agreed to spar with Mexico’s Alfredo Angulo who fights James Kirkland in the WBO light middleweight eliminator which tops the bill.

The Scot, who was ahead in his last fight in March against Irish contender Andy Lee when dramatically stopped in the final round, said: “I’ve already worked out my strategy and I hope to use the sparring with Alfredo to work on that. I’ve a good feeling about this fight. Its going to be fast and furious!”

“Some of my old friends in the Wildcard Gym have been calling me saying I’ll beat Peter and pointing out his weaknesses but I’ve seen his fights online and he’s pretty good.”