Let that be a warning... (How Burns vs. Gonzales should be a wake up call for Warren fighters).

On Saturday night Burns fought a little known prospect Gonzales, a number of things were said after the fight such as “not enough tape on the guy”, “too much inactivity” and maybe “a little ring rust”… these are valid points seeing as Ricky has had fights moved and cancelled a little too much. But there’s one thing that really stuck out for me and this is something that had become a trend with Warren fighters…

His opposition prior to this fight simple wasn’t good enough.

All credit to Eddie Hearn, he doesn’t match his fighters “easily”, seldom do we see Matchroom boxers in with the likes of Nurses or Plumbers. Gonzales was a pure boxer and one that Burns had probably never seen before. The question that needs to be asked is… WHY?

Ricky Burns is a good boxer, there’s no doubting that. But for 7 rounds on my card, he looked fairly useless in applying pressure, telegraphed his (usually very impressive) jab and overstretched with a number of punches – anyone who has seen the fight will know that. You can blame ring rust, you could blame frustration – but I blame his experience. Yes, Ricky was able to turn up the heat a little later and apply some pressure, but he seemed bamboozled in being with a switch hitting counter puncher. Training issue? Or experience issue?

Fights like Nicky Cook, Joseph Laryea and Andreas Evensen after a great win over Roman Martinez are laughable. Granted, a fighter can only fight who’s put in front of him but it mirrors another young WBO champion’s current record.

Nathan Cleverly stormed through the British and European rankings, beating some solid opponents until eventually, he was handed a title (sound familiar?). Since “becoming” the WBO champion he has fought: Aleksy Kuziemski, Tony Bellew, Tommy Karpency, Shawn Hawk and Robin Krasniqi… with the exception of Tony Bellew, I doubt even the most astute of boxing brains would be able to give me any background on the others.

What will happen when Cleverly meets his “Gonzales”?

I often make comparisons and I’ve also been quite outspoken on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. But credit where it’s due – the guy fought within his skill set as a Champion. Arum had the confidence to put him in with these guys. Why doesn’t Warren (with the exception of Derek Chisora) have the confidence to RISK his fighters and stretch them a little more? I honestly believe that the development of a fighter is THE most important aspect of creating a champion and it looked as though Burns has had it all too easy before Saturday.

I would warn any fighter with Warren to watch that fight and think about their future with the promoter.

He thought the guy was a bum so he gave burns a fight to keep busy nothing to praise (or criticise) hearn for

Tbh though he makes a valid point, becoming champ and then fighting soft opposition can really hurt you in the long term.

Burns wasn't suppose to look that poor so perhaps not as much credit should be given but the fact is he was an unbeaten Puerto Rican with a punch and no footage to create a game plan with it was a huge risk and almost backfired

Except from Moses the rest of burns defences where against fighters that's limitations and ability were there for all to see unlike Gonzales

Hearn matches them hard but he always lets his fighters have the final say on if they want it and if one can pull off an upset then big paydays will follow, making it worth the risk

Keep him away from Broner.........

Hopefully Paulie beats Broner, the little potty mouthed imbecile.

davidemore wrote:Hopefully Paulie beats Broner, the little potty mouthed imbecile.

More chance of seeing Elvis at the MEN

Thanks WHU,

It's what I've been saying for a while, with the exception of Carl Froch - our Champs in the UK are happy to sit on their WBO Titles, hide behind talk of unifying with little intent of having the fights.

Look at the likes of the young Mexicans fighting on the Golden Boy or Top Rank undercards, they are consistantly tested at or above their levels, by the time they hold a belt in their hands they are hardened and PROVEN at that level... how has the WBO/Warren helped Burns and Cleverly by giving them a title only to defend against "mandatory challengers" (poorly ranked nobodies).

Khan was they same up until Prescott and until he left Warren, Dimitri Salita on PPV?

Every fighter Warren produces a belt for fights terrible opponents until they either:

A. Leave him (Calzaghe, Hatton)
B. Come up against a real Top 5 opponent (Khan, Mitchell, Murray, Enzo).

Burns was dangerously close to being "another Warren fighter" on Saturday, regardless of excuses.

On the bright side, seeing as Selby is likely to grow into Lightweight... Burns is a very comfortable option for him should he fancy a World Title.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Keep him away from Broner.........

Yea because as we have seen through time, if a fighter loses a fight it means they are finished.

Lets follow your logic and stop all fighters from fighting the best out there. GREAT IDEA!!!

Maybe Burns just isn't as good as he was believed to be and Warren knew that.
Anyone know where Warren was when JFK was shot?
Blame him for that as well.

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Keep him away from Broner.........

Yea because as we have seen through time, if a fighter loses a fight it means they are finished.

Lets follow your logic and stop all fighters from fighting the best out there. GREAT IDEA!!!

Not until they are ready...and he most certainly isn't..

Fights like Nicky Cook, Joseph Laryea and Andreas Evensen after a great win over Roman Martinez are laughable. Granted, a fighter can only fight who’s put in front of him but it mirrors another young WBO champion’s current record.

I think that's very harsh. Not only is Martinez better than anything on Clev's CV by a country mile, but he also symbolised ripping the title off the unbeaten champ not being handed a paper trinket like Clev. To be honest, would be tempted to say that Martinez was as good as anything on Broner's CV, with the exception of De Marco perhaps, and he's on Ring's top 10 p4p list!!

TopHat, I agree with you, Martinez was a brilliant win to have on his CV. It's the fights AFTER that win which are laughable.

Since that fight he has fought fringe contenders at best. As for his WBO Lightweight title, that was gifted to him a short while after beating Katsidis.

My point is, how can you have a guy beat a name like that, then feed him tripe? Warren matches his fighters too lightly once they become champions, Burns was almost caught out by a PROSPECT.

Turpin's win over Robbo was...brilliant.

Playing a dangerous game, Truss - not leaving yourself many gushing adjectives. Think you have to take the descriptions in context. Martinez was a "fantastic" win for Burns.

semantics..

There was a pathetic tongue in cheek tweet made by Peter McDonough that Frankie Gavin laughed at and retweeted as Burns was having his harris handed to him that made fun of Hearn in Warren's favour.

Even if Burns had lost the other night I'd still much rather see boxers test themselves and come up short. There's no way on Earth he should be 'kept away' from anyone. Get him in there.

RanjitPatel wrote:Maybe Burns just isn't as good as he was believed to be and Warren knew that.
Anyone know where Warren was when JFK was shot?
Blame him for that as well.

More importantly, where was Terry Marsh when Warren was shot ?

Warren had an alibi for JFK..........

The Lindbergh baby..........now that's different!!