Ricky Burns opponent set: UPDATE, it is Jose Gonzalez (Mandatory)

[IamInuit]

This is a joke. It's gonna be Gonzalez and as usual the British world champ will not step up to the plate. Vasquez was a good fight that would really test Burns and line up a big fight with Broner.

I used to really rate Burns but after jumping ship and accepting this, very disappointing. I thought he was standout 2nd best in the division (still including Broner cz think he'll fight there again) but now I think Abril and Shafikov would beat him

In fairness to Ricky he just bailed on Warren and got out of his slave contract. Ricky would have probably already fought Broner if it was up to him. He deserves to shake off the rust and get a mandatory out of the way at the same time. I don't think he would have any trouble with Abril or Shafikov. As far as Broner goes he's made the jump up to 147 a little earlier then I thought and once he goes up I think it will be very hard for him to come back down. He's massive for a lightweight.The only person I know of that was able to do that was Armstrong after the Ross fight to battle Ambers but Armstrong was barely a lightweight when he fought Ross so there was no muscle stripping. I think Burns will be moving up in the not to distant future also so maybe they will still be able to meet but it just might not be in the cards.

[bzkfn]

Ricky Burns to defend WBO lightweight title against mandatory challenger Jose Gonzalez | Sky Sports

Revealed as Jose Gonzalez as expected. Before people jump on this, Burns is getting his mandatory out of the way so if he wanted to keep his bargaining chip, he had to fight this guy sooner or later. Hopefully he gets this outta the way and he can unify before the year is out.

[Fenster]

Considering he was being matched against Liam Walsh a couple of months back... good start.