Tickets for Ricky Burns’ WBO World Lightweight title defence against Terence Crawford at the SECC in Glasgow on March 1 outsold his last defence against Raymundo Beltran five to one after going on sale yesterday.
Burns makes the fifth defence of his crown live on Sky Sports against the highly rated unbeaten American Crawford, and the fight has grabbed the imagination of fight fans as tickets were snapped up early.
Omaha’s Crawford brings a 22-0 record with 16 wins inside the distance and has been dubbed as America’s golden boy in the Lightweight division by show promoter Eddie Hearn, and Burns knows he will need to put in a career-best performance to continue his incredible reign as champion.
“I am putting a bit of pressure on myself as I know that I have to come out and put on a good performance on March 1,” said Burns. “I’ve been disappointed with myself in the last couple of fights. Jose Gonzalez was better than we thought he was going to be and the Beltran fight was out of my control as once the broken jaw happened I had to go into survival mode. I have always said that I would never ever quit in the ring and that’s why I fought the fight that I did, just to get through the fight.
“It’s going to be a very tough fight but we know that and we’ll prepare accordingly. Boxing fans know who this guy is and they are writing me off already. A lot of people are saying I’m the underdog and that this guy is going to come over and knock me out so I’ve got a lot of doubters to prove wrong.”
The undercard pits a fiery Cruiserweight clash that threatened to boil over at yesterday’s press conference in Glasgow as WBC International Silver champion Stephen Simmons reacted angrily to his challenger from London, Wadi Camacho.
“He doesn’t deserve this fight,” said Simmons. “He’s stepped up twice and lost twice, I’ve stepped up twice and I’ve won twice.
“He’s horrible, disrespectful and arrogant, and I’m looking forward to teaching him a hard, hard lesson.
“It’s got personal on Twitter and he’s said some stupid things on there – it’s not on. I’m a professional – I’ve been in situations like this before, albeit not as bad, but I’ve been doing this for 17 years and I’ll train like I’ve never trained before and go into the ring and do the business.”
It’s a stacked card in Glasgow with plenty of Scottish talent in action led by former British Featherweight champion John Simpson and unbeaten trio David Brophy, Michael Roberts and Jon Slowey.
Olympic Gold medal hero Anthony Joshua MBE looks to continue his impressive start to life in the paid ranks on the card, Manchester’s Lightweight star Anthony Crolla will be a keen spectator of Burns’ latest defence, while former Team GB man Martin J. Ward is also in action.
Tickets are on sale at 1pm on Monday priced at £40, £60 & £100 through www.ticketSOUP.com or by calling 0844 395 4000, with £200 VIP Tickets are exclusively available through www.matchroomboxing.com or by calling 01277 359900.
