Ricky Burns

Ricky Burns (born 13 April 1983) is a Scottish professional boxer.

Burns first fight as a professional was a four-round victory in October 2001 over Woody Greenaway at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, Scotland.

On 12 December 2004, following a string of seven wins over opponents including Jeff Thomas, Ernie Smith and Daniel Thorpe he was matched against fellow unbeaten prospect Colin Bain.

The fight, at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow, resulted in a first career defeat for Bain as Burns won over the six round distance.

For Burns, the win set him up for a journey south of the border to face the unbeaten British lightweight champion Graham Earl in a non-title fight.

The fight with Earl took place at the Wembley Conference Center and Burns produced one of the upsets of the year when he scored a points victory to beat Earl over eight rounds.

The win against Earl meant he would land a shot at the big time when in February 2006, he took on reigning British, Commonwealth and European champion Alex Arthur.

The fight took place in Edinburgh and ended in defeat for Burns, as Arthur retained on points.

Burns who was still only a 12-fight novice at this stage took the fight to Arthur prompting the champion to heap praise on him; "Ricky Burns was in superb shape and he was up for the fight" said Arthur, "He's a brilliant boxer with a great future and he could be a world champion one day."

Burns himself refused to be disappointed with the loss saying; "I don't count that as a loss. I'm just 22 and it was great experience for me".

Burns next had a crack at the British title almost exactly a year later when in February 2007, he met reigning champion Carl Johanneson at the Town Hall in Leeds.

The fight ended once again in defeat with Burns losing a 12-round decision to the experienced champion.

Johanneson intent on winning well before his home crowd hounded Burns throughout the fight and managed to knock Burns down three times.

After the defeat to Johanneson, Burns took the decision to leave his old boxing club in a bid to seek a new challenge.

Burns had worked with Rab Bannan at the Barn Boxing Club for over 14 years, but the Johanneson defeat prompted a need for a change of direction.

On telling his former mentor the news Burns said; "It was a nightmare having to tell him. It was really sad because I’ve been with him for 14 years. All my boxing life really. It was really hard but we left on good terms and we shook hands and I’m sure our paths will cross again."

Burns moved to the Dalmarnock gym in Glasgow, where he could train alongside the likes of Willie Limond and Kenny Anderson.

Since the fight with Johanneson, Burns won eight fights in a row.

A ten-round win over Romanian Gheorghe Ghiompirica at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow gave him the lightly regarded British International Masters belt.

Burns also spent time sparring former opponent Alex Arthur in preparation for Arthur's WBO super-featherweight title defence against Nicky Cook.

At regional level he held the Commonwealth super-featherweight title from 2008 to 2009, and has challenged for the British and European super-featherweight titles.

In September 2008, Burns was in line for a crack at the vacant Commonwealth title, a belt which had been given up by Londoner Kevin Mitchell.

The challenge took place at the York Hall in Bethnal Green and saw Burns outpoint the Ghanaian Osumana Akaba over 12 rounds.

The fight, which was taken with only weeks notice after the original main event on the card was cancelled, propelled Burns into the championship frame.

Speaking of his future ambitions Burns said; "There is only one fight I want at the moment. That fight would be the current British champion Kevin Mitchell. He recently has been injured, and won't be back until December so we'll have to see what happens".

Burns defended his crown at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall soon afterwards in November 2008, against another Ghanaian, Yakubu Amidu.

The African fighter had a record of 16–1–1, with all his victories coming by way of stoppage.

Burns however was too much and his superior fitness levels showed as the referee stopped the contest in the seventh round, handing victory to the Scotsman.

Burns second defence took place in March 2009, and saw Burns halt former British champion Michael Gomez in the seventh round.

On 20 June 2009, Burns made perhaps the toughest defence of his title yet with a hard-fought 12 round win over Northern Ireland's Kevin O'Hara, with the assistance of the highly experienced trainer Billy Nelson and his Fighting Scots Gym in Stepps.

Ricky became Billy's first world champion.

Burns success in the ring had elevated him to the number one ranking with the WBO's rankings.

Burns's promoter Frank Warren tried to negotiate a match with the reigning champion Roman Martínez.

The bout with the Puerto Rican champion had been subject to numerous delays with the fight scheduled for both Scotland and Puerto Rico at various intervals only for the fight never to materialise and for Martinez to make a voluntary defence of his title instead.

The uncertainty for Burns meant that a proposed British title contest against Gary Sykes never happened with Sykes winning the title against Burns replacement Andy Morris and defending against the man Burns had defeated in his last Commonwealth title defence Kevin O'Hara.

He is one of only three British boxers to have won world titles in three weight divisions and the first from Scotland, having held the WBO super-featherweight title from 2010 to 2011; the WBO lightweight title from 2012 to 2014; and the WBA light-welterweight title from 2016 to 2017.

Finally after almost a year of frustration Burns re-entered the ring on 15 May 2010, on the undercard of Kevin Mitchell's world title shot against Michael Katsidis at the Boleyn Ground.

Burns continued his winning streak and kept ticking over with an eight-round win over journeyman and former foe Youssef Al Hamidi.

Burns claimed after the fight that he hoped the fight with Román Martinez would materialise around July and that it would be in Glasgow.

The WBO super-featherweight title showdown between Burns and Roman Martinez was eventually confirmed on 24 June 2010 and scheduled to take place at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow on 4 September.