Ricky Burns faces title stripping threat

RICKY Burns, the World Boxing Organisation lightweight champion from Coatbridge, could be forgiven were he to develop a persecution complex, given the way fate has seemingly conspired against him.

Having been left kicking his heels for the past four months through no fault of his own after no fewer than three of his opponents called off at short notice, Burns now finds himself facing the threat of being stripped of his title.

Burns, 29, will learn today who he will face in his eighth world title bout when his recently-appointed promoter, Eddie Hearn, announces details of the 11 May show at a press conference in Glasgow.

However, the WBO has made it known that they have the power to declare the title vacant unless Burns’ next defence is against mandatory challenger Jose Gonzalez of Puerto Rico. And unless Hearn has been successful in securing a defence against Gonzalez, Burns may well find himself the victim of WBO red tape.

Under WBO rules a mandatory defence against Gonzalez cannot go ahead on the planned date of 11 May in the event of the bout being declared open to purse offers.

According to a source close to the WBO, the sanctioning body’s president, Francisco Velcarcel, told Hearn that he had until midnight yesterday to reach agreement with Gonzalez’s handlers. Otherwise purse offers will be called for with a minimum bid of $150,000.

Burns has not fought since September when he stopped Londoner Kevin Mitchell at the SECC in Glasgow in his second voluntary defence of his lightweight crown.

His planned defence against Liam Walsh on 15 December, which was sanctioned by the WBO with the proviso that the winner made a mandatory defence within 120 days of the date of the bout, was called off when the Englishman was injured in a car crash.

The WBO subsequently approved Jose Ocampo as a replacement with identical conditions, but that fight also fell through when the Puerto Rican withdrew just days beforehand. In view of unavoidable postponements, fight chiefs agreed to a further extension in the timing of the overdue mandatory defence on the grounds that Burns’ former promoter Frank Warren had secured a unification bout against IBF champion Miguel Vazquez.

But they stressed that the winner had to undertake a mandatory defence within 120 days of the unification bout which had been scheduled to take place at Wembley Arena on 15 March.

However, Warren, who is suing Burns for breach of contract following the pair’s split earlier this month, was forced to reschedule the jinxed bout for 20 April in London after Mexican Vazquez was diagnosed as suffering from a virus brought on by food poisoning.

Now, unless Hearn has agreed terms with Gonzalez’s promoter, Peter Rivera, by the midnight deadline, the London promoter will face a fresh headache.

For WBO rules state that no fight can take place within 45 days of a purse offer being accepted or later than 90 days from the date of the agreement and 11 May falls inside the minimum time scale.