Burns v Mitchell – A No Nonsense Big Fight Affair

The no nonsense WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns will defend his title on Saturday night against the equally no nonsense challenger Kevin Mitchell in a fight that has classic written all over it.

The SECC Arena in Glasgow will be electric on Saturday night. The Burns fans will be out in unison to cheer on their hero in their back yard. Mitchell’s fans will make the long journey north to back their man and the night guarantees to be big fight material in and out of the ring.

Just to make things sweeter and the anticipation longer, before the ring of the first bell and adding more suspense, the emotional anthem ‘Flower of Scotland will be belted from the rafters by the Burns faithful, before star turn MC Michael Buffer will swap the bright lights of Las Vegas for a Saturday night in Glasgow, and will announce the fight and then call out his immortal phrase “Lets Get Ready To Rumble” to get this historic Auld rival showdown under way.

Some of the biggest names in British boxing history, including Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Naseem Hamed, Pat Clinton and Paul Weir have all boxed at the historic Scottish venue and Burns is excited to follow in their footsteps.

“To fight for the first time at the SECC in the biggest and most important fight of my life against Mitchell where all these great names have boxed is an unbelievable honour,” said Burns.

“You can’t get bigger names than Benn, Eubank and Naz, plus Clinton and Weir, they’re like British boxing royalty and I can’t wait to get in the ring and thrill the fans like they did with their appearances there,”

In March 1993, the Dark Destroyer Nigel Benn defended his WBC World Super-Middleweight title against Mauro Galvano at the SECC; while his big rival Chris Eubank fought there twice defending his WBO World Super-Middleweight crown against Tony Thornton on points and Ray Close holding him to a draw in May 1993.

Burns said, “Everyone knows Benn, he was all-action and one of the greatest British fighters ever. You just knew he would be in a real fight every time he got in the ring and you would get value for money. That’s the kind of attitude that I will be bringing to the ring against Mitchell,”

Burns’ boyhood hero WBO World Featherweight Champion Naseem Hamed put on two explosive performance there, knocking out Armando Castro in four rounds in January 1995 and then demolishing Said Lawal inside a round in March the following year.

Burns ready for his big night at the SECC and to follow his heroes paths

Scottish world champions Pat Clinton and Paul Weir both defended their titles at the SECC. Clinton defeated Danny Porter on points in September 1992 to retain his WBO World Flyweight title, but lost it there in his next defence against Jacob Matlala in May 1993. While Weir beat Kevin Jenkins in March 1993 and in his next fight made history by winning the WBO World Minimumweight title in only his sixth fight stopping Fernando Martinez in seven rounds.“Naz was my favourite fighter when I was growing up, he was the reason that I got into boxing and I used to stay up to watch his fights. In fact, I was more interested in what Naz was wearing as he used to changed his shorts for every fight and all the exciting ring entrances. I remember the Castro and Lawal fights because Naz was just knocking people cold with his punches, the Lawal knockout was pretty impressive because it was the first punch he threw in the fight,” continued Burns.

“Clinton and Weir are legends of Scottish boxing. We haven’t had that many world champions, but the guys that have won it are pretty special. For Weir to win the world title in just his sixth fight is pretty amazing. I was the first since Weir to become a two weight world champion in almost 20 years which was a big achievement for me,”

The Champion is in great shape

Ricky Burns Last 6 Fights

Burns, 29, boasts a professional record of 34 wins from 36 bouts and became world lightweight champion in May last year after outpointing Michael Katsidis at Wembley Arena. Prior to that the Coatbridge man held the WBO super featherweight title and goes into the Mitchell fight unbeaten in 6 world title fights and a two time / two weight world champion, Scotland’s first…. Ricky Burns is in his Prime.

10th March 2012 
Paulus Moses – Won
WBO lightweight title
Won UD 12

5th November 2011 
Michael Katsidis
interim WBO lightweight title
Won UD 12

16th July 2011 
Nicky Cook
WBO super featherweight title
Won TKO 1 (Cook pulled out after suffering a back injury.)

12th March 2011
Joseph Laryea
WBO super featherweight title
Won RTD 7

4th December 2010
Andreas Evensen
WBO super featherweight title
Won UD 12

4th September 2010

Kevin Mitchell – The Challenger

He seems to be in a better place now and looks to have sorted out his personal problems under the wing and guidance of Jimmy and Mark Tibbs. He is now in tip top condition, mentally and physically and will not want to fail in his second shot at world glory.

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