Can Ricky Burns beat the likes of John Molina and Hank Lundy?

[monzon]

I don't think i've seen Lundy or Molina fight before, so i can't answer your question directly, but i seem to remember most 'experts' thought Burns had little chance against Martinez, and similarly so against Katsidis. I try not to get involved in the 'is x world class' debates, it's subjective and often hard to judge, but there are no doubts in my mind that Burns is capable of holding his own at the top level.

As i say, i've not seen enough of most of the Americans around the top ten to judge how Burns would do against them, but i think the likes of Rios and Guerrero would be too strong. One fight i could see happening somewhere along the line, assuming Burns stays in his current weightclass and continues to progress, would be Marquez. People might snigger at that, his first bout aside, he's only ever lost to elite fighters, and he's just gone toe-to-toe with, some would even argue beat (i had Manny by a round) the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, but time catches up with everyone, and eighteen months down the line, when Marquez is touching 40, it could potentially be a great bit of matchmaking.

Personally, i'd like to see him get in with Murray, Rees, Mitchell, even, to a lesser extent, Crolla first. Those are five good British lightweights, and potentially some cracking domestic bouts.