[Roe]

So last night Ricky Burns came through his hardest fight since finding world acclaim. He was clearly getting outboxed, was well down on the scorecards and looked close to being stopped in a terrific 7th round. Burns dug in and fought back, and after Gonzalez appeared to tire and pick up an injury (his offence completely went after that 7th), Ricky managed to keep up the pressure and forced the Puerto Rican to quit on his stool at the end of the 9th.

But how has last night's battle changed your opinion on Scotland's WBO lightweight champion? Are you more impressed with Burns' desire and workrate than ever? Or did Gonzalez show big flaws in Burns' game that could perhaps show Ricky up in his next fight at the top level?

Where do you think Ricky Burns goes from here?

 

[Noonaldinho]

I'm putting it down to a bad night at the office, also a long time since his last fight, time will tell I guess.

 

[adamcanavan]

Ring rust and gonzalez being good didnt help him, but he's gone up in my opinion as he showed incredible conditioning and heart to pull through

 

[sim_reiss]

Not sure my opinion has changed much to be honest. I'm hoping that his boxing performance was down to ring rust and a surprisingly good opponent as folks have mentioned. In terms of conditioning and heart, I've always been impressed by Ricky in both regards but last night was certainly a great showing in those intangibles.

I'm curious who is next opponent will be. Would people still be underwhelmed by Rees if Gav put a beating on Crolla?

 

[adamcanavan]

Not sure my opinion has changed much to be honest. I'm hoping that his boxing performance was down to ring rust and a surprisingly good opponent as folks have mentioned. In terms of conditioning and heart, I've always been impressed by Ricky in both regards but last night was certainly a great showing in those intangibles.

I'm curious who is next opponent will be. Would people still be underwhelmed by Rees if Gav put a beating on Crolla?

Not sure if hearn would want it at all but i'd want to see Rees vs Gonzalez after Crolla and then the winner gets Burns, would be interesting imo

 

[sim_reiss]

Not sure if hearn would want it at all but i'd want to see Rees vs Gonzalez after Crolla and then the winner gets Burns, would be interesting imo

Hearn won't touch him with a barge pole. Gonzalez is a paid up member of the who needs him club...

 

[Noonaldinho]

Would Eddie try and make the Vazquez fight now?

 

[Teeto]

I just posted my opinion on the other thread about the fight. Well done to him for winnin the fight but obviously it raised big concerns for him, I think the best thing to do is to see how his next bout pans out.

 

[Batkilt]

My opinion hasn't changed. I think he'd lost some momentum from not being out since September and approached the fight wrong. They expected Gonzalez to be chasing the knockout and weren't expecting him to box at range. I still think Burns could beat Vazquez. He'd need to put in a good performance next to convince Eddie to make the fight, but I think it'd be easier to make now; Vazquez will be confident after that.

It didn't do anything to convince me that Richar Abril is a fight to pursue though.

 

[Chatty]

I've never rated him as that good to be honest so its backed my opinion up rather than anything. I always thought he was a solid boxer, he does eveything well but at the same time does nothing special. Last night massively exposed him imo, he's been fighting continental/domestic opposition since Martinez except Katsidis who was shot (which they didn't know at the time to be fair) and Moses who I thought was massively overrated also.

Last night Burns was completely outclassed for six rounds. You can blame rust but he had no idea what to do with Gonzalez, he had no plan B and just reverted to doing the same thing over and over again. Luckily for him Gonzalez gambled and went for the kill in the seventh and blew himself out. No way would he have turned that fight around had Gonzalez had good conditioning.

His corner were terrible as well, offering no advice other than don't get frustrated or work harder, basically not technical analysis on how he could change up. Burns seems like a good lad and he's done well for himself but to me he is an average boxer at world level.

I said early that he now finds himself between a rock and a hard place. IMO he gets beat of Vasquez and Abril who are both better boxers than Gonzalez, more experienced, better conditioned and are better at spoiling, based on last night both of these guys handle Ricky comfortably.

His other options are to continue to fight continental/domestic opponents until people get further tired of shit matches or take lower paid fights with tough opponents like Bogere, Shafikov, DeMarco etc or he can move up to 140 where imo he will become a KO victim as soon as he steps up to one of the top 6-7.

I suppose he could keep fighting on the domestic front with Rees and Murray for another year.

 

[JamieC]

Still rate him, tricky opponent he couldn't prepare for who turned out to be very good, and he stopped the guy fair and square. Sure it was a bit shaky early doors but champions just win and thats what he did, id still make the Vazquez fight

 

[Luf]

I think it was obvious he'd trained for a completely different fighter. He was going in there to outjab and win exchanges with his speed. He looked totally lost when he realised he was in against a rangy counter puncher.

That being said it did expose his limitations. He has a cracking chin and awesome stamina but his skills are pretty limited to me, wasn't able to switch it up or draw leads from Gonzalez. His movement on the front foot looked hopeless and as he stated himself he totally over reached.

I see no way he beats Vazquez and last week I'd have made him a favourite for that fight.

 

[w;dkm ckeqfjq c]

I actually wouldn't mind a fight with rees.

 

[Nyanners :sad5]

I loved it. I thought it was a great fight, very entertaining. Ricky Burns has balls. I thought he was going to revert to his old style but he eventually started breaking the guy down. He quit, fuck the bullshit. He was talking as soon as his arse was on that stool. He Campbell'd it. And sorry but if you're in a world title fight and you give in, you've no excuse. People wouldn't make that excuse if Ricky Burns had done it, or a certain Lee McAllister.

 

[Post Box]

Not at all for me. Never rated him that highly but knew he had tons of stamina and heart, sums up last night

 

[dftaylor]

Hearn won't touch him with a barge pole. Gonzalez is a paid up member of the who needs him club...

Which is entirely his own fault for bailing out when he had the fight in hand.

 

[Shocked Quartz]

I was disappointed with Burns last night. In the first round I thought him falling short with his punches was due to feeling a bit tight and he would loosen up + improve as the fight went on. Burns wasn't just missing, he was off by a large distance and the fact that this went on round after round is worrying. I thought he showed poor punch variety and ability to cut the ring off and this led to the fight falling into a frustrating pattern for him.

He showed good heart and toughness but I reckon if he'd been in there with a better operator he'd have been taken out. He shipped a lot of shots and if Gonzales had better stamina and had picked his punches better the outcome might have been different. Bring on Vazquez.

 

[JamieC]

I was disappointed with Burns last night. In the first round I thought him falling short with his punches was due to feeling a bit tight and he would loosen up + improve as the fight went on. Burns wasn't just missing, he was off by a large distance and the fact that this went on round after round is worrying. I thought he showed poor punch variety and ability to cut the ring off and this led to the fight falling into a frustrating pattern for him.

He showed good heart and toughness but I reckon if he'd been in there with a better operator he'd have been taken out. When Burns was pushing the fight in the 7th and later he was very sloppy and open to being knocked out. Bring on Vazquez.

If anything it proved he's not in danger of being knocked out, previously going the distance with Martinez and Kats, then last night in the 7th he ate some massive hooks to the chin from a big puncher but lasted and came on strong tbf

 

[Lunny]

Not sure if hearn would want it at all but i'd want to see Rees vs Gonzalez after Crolla and then the winner gets Burns, would be interesting imo

That'd be great

 

[Lunny]

If anything it proved he's not in danger of being knocked out, previously going the distance with Martinez and Kats, then last night in the 7th he ate some massive hooks to the chin from a big puncher but lasted and came on strong tbf

You don't need to be knocked out to be stopped though. If the ref sees too many shots landing it's game over.