Boxing Preview: Roman Martinez vs. Ricky Burns

This Saturday, September 4th Commonwealth super featherweight champion Ricky Burns, 28-2 (7), meets WBO champion Roman Martinez, 24-0-1 (15), at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow.

Also on the bill, Commonwealth featherweight champion John Simpson, 21-6 (9), faces off against Stephen Smith, 10-0 (6), in a British title eliminator, with the winner fighting Martin Lindsay.

Stephen Smith has, quite obviously, got quite a hill to climb with John Simpson, as Simpson has nearly had as many knockouts as Smith has had fights. Simpson is a relatively good operator at a domestic level, having fought some good names in his career.

He has, several times, fought for the British title, winning it off Andy Morris in 2006 until eventually losing it to Paul Appleby in 2008. The WBU title has twice escaped him in losing fights to Stephen Foster and Derry Matthews.

Along with those names come a couple of hard, well fought scraps, against talented up and comer Paul Truscott, with Simpson winning both and earning/defending the Commonwealth belt.

Simpson is a pressure fighter and a tough nut to crack. He is not afraid of entering into a war; he can box when needed and has a tremendous engine.

Smith has a distinguished amateur career with over 150 fights, commonwealth gold in 2006 and bronze at the 2006 European Amateur Boxing Championships.

The amateur game is different than the pros, and although Smith looks talented, could this be a bit early for him. Smith has not been in with any serious opposition, his only knockouts are against opponents who have serious losses on their records, and his last outing was against Jason Thomas (7-26-3) who was stopped in the first.

There is no harm in building a promising fighter up against journeymen and gatekeepers, in fact it is absolutely necessary, but Simpson should be far too good for Smith.

Saying that though, I am sure we have all seen stranger things happen in the ring and bigger upsets, and as we all know…with great risk comes great reward.

Top of the bill that night, the aforementioned Burns takes on Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez . Burns won his Commonwealth belt in 2008 beating Osumanu Akaba, and has defended it four times.

Burns is a very tough fighter having never been stopped and although he has visited the canvas before he has never stayed there. Burns has been in the ring with a mix of journeymen and some talent.

Early in his career he beat an undefeated prospect in Graham Earl over eight. The victory fast tracked him to a British, European and Commonwealth bout with Champion Alex Arthur, which Burns lost over 12. Two fights later and he was in with British Champ Carl Johanesson, which again he lost going the distance.

Burns stopped a rather worn but still dangerous Michael Gomez in 2009 and Kevin O’Hara took him the distance later that year. Aside from some good experienced fights, Burns has had some lackluster performances, especially his last outing against Youssef Al Hamidi.

Against Martinez, Burns cannot afford to have any dip in concentration, but then preparing for a fight against Al Hamidi and preparing for a fight against Martinez is completely contrasting. Especially as the fight is taking place in Scotland, Burns will want to impress and he will come to fight, which is good as so will Martinez .

Normally, that Martinez has to come from Puerto Rico and fight in Burns’ backyard would be an issue but when Martinez won his title, he did it in Manchester against Nicky Cook, who also came to fight, which in effect came to be his undoing.

Cook hurt Martinez in the second but in the third was getting more involved in staying inside Martinez’s range as opposed to boxing and moving. Martinez dropped Cook twice in the fourth, the second knockdown was particularly heavy, ending the bout.

Martinez is very well schooled and has a very cool head; coming to Scotland will not phase him nor will getting involved in a tear up. This matchup will prove to be very interesting as Burns is solid at the weight and Martinez is not invulnerable, but he is very, very good.

This could be Burns’ night; most are writing him off against the champion but there is no way he will lie down in his backyard as he will see this as HIS time, HIS shot and he very well could pull off an upset.