Ricky Burns has had a real tough going over the past year. The Scotland born fighter is 1-2-1 in his last four fights, but his ring troubles were only part of the problem. After a lengthy legal battle with his former promoter Frank Warren, Burns was forced to claim insolvent last month to the tune of £419,888.
Burns parted ways with Warren in 2013 and joined Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom, but Warren claimed that Burns still owed fights and was obligated to complete the rest of the valid contract. Burns was ordered to pay his own legal fees along with an attached compensation for Warren’s damages. Dailymail.co.uk reported the damages total was roughly £370,000.
Now, Burns’ troubles are seemingly behind him, or at least all out on the table. He is, however, happy with his current situation and believes the distractions of 2014 will no longer affect his in-ring game. He’ll get the chance to make his 2015 debut and put last year’s disappointing campaign behind him when he meets Omar Figueroa on May 9th in Figueroa’s home state of Texas. The fight will take place in Hidalgo, Texas, which is only minutes away from Figueroa’s hometown of Weslaco, right on the Texas-Mexico border.
With his out-of-ring problems no longer a distraction, Burns says he will be the fighter that closer resembles the one that won the lightweight and junior lightweight titles in years past.
“I’m hoping, and the way that training has been going in camp, we’re gonna see the Ricky Burns of a couple years ago when I won the world title. Like I said, all the distractions are behind me. I’m glad that I got last year out of the way. We’re going to see a new Ricky Burns, I know I’ve said that before, but I do believe it. Things have been going well, sparring has been going great, and I just want to get into a fight. I can’t wait,” Burns told Thaboxingvoice’s Anthony “Rod” Rodriguez.
The truth is Burns has said these things before; in fact he made the same statement last year just before his comeback fight against Dejan Zlaticanin, which he lost by split decision. The fight against Zlaticanin was supposed to be an easy win after suffering a unanimous decision loss to Terrance Crawford.
Burns is hoping that he can make the kind of statement against Figueroa that shows he’s a different fighter now that the outside distractions are gone. It will be easy to prove because Burns will have the chance to put on a better performance against a flawed boxer with the tendency to take risks. If Burns looks good then we can believe that last year’s campaign was based on his distractions. However, if Burns doesn’t look good then he will have no excuse.
This is the perfect redemption scenario for a fighter and talking himself before the fight is pointless, in fact it could actually do more damage than necessary.
“I’m not one for mouthing off. Anyone that knows me knows that I’m just a quiet guy and I do my talking in the ring. For me it’s about getting out there and enjoying it.”