Little 'devil' Andreas Evensen fires warning to Ricky Burns

WBO super-featherweight champion Ricky Burns has "let the Devil into his house" by allowing Andreas Evensen the chance to take his belt at the Braehead Arena on 4 December, according to the challenger's manager, Helge Waeroey.

The Coatbridge boxer will make the first defence of his title which was won in memorable fashion in September when he beat Roman Martinez on points at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall.

Across the ring will be Evensen, the 24-year-old Colombian-born Norwegian who is the current WBO intercontinental featherweight champion and who has won 13 of his 14 fights, the last four by knockout.

The two boxers and their management teams met in a Glasgow hotel yesterday to publicise the fight which resulted in a polite but feisty encounter, with Waeroey saying: "I would like to thank Ricky for this opportunity and we are grateful for it. But we will take the title back home.

"We are not here to lose. I would suggest to the people to buckle up their seatbelts and not to blink because it is going to be a hell of a fight. Ricky Burns has let the Devil into his house. Andreas is an intelligent guy, a warm and caring person who helps look after his blind sister. But inside the ring he is a totally different person. He has enormous endurance."

Evensen, noticeably shorter than Burns, also thanked the champion for his chance then added: "Ricky Burns is a good fighter and a clever boxer but I think I will prevail on the night.

"I have won the last four fights by knockout and I hope for a fifth. I am looking forward to it."

Burns refused to be intimidated by the talk from the Norwegian camp and retorted: "He will need to bring a sledgehammer if he is going to knock me out. I'm also a different person in the ring.

"Talk is cheap and once he is in the ring he will know how hard a fight it is going to be. I have been knocked down but I have never been knocked out.

"Before I won the title, there were only a handful of people who thought I would do it.

"Martinez tried to humiliate me beforehand and after the first round I think he thought it was going to be an easy fight.

"But as the fight went on, my confidence grew and his disappeared.

"I am training now as I did then and there is no way I am leaving there a loser."