By Michael Collins: WBO lightweight interim champion Ricky Burns (33-2, 9 KO’s) was given the full WBO lightweight title by the World Boxing Organization on Thursday and the 28-year-old Burns was pleased as punch for getting the full title.
I don’t know what difference it makes in the long run if he can’t hold onto the title, but it sounds a little better to be called the WBO lightweight champion rather than the Interim WBO lightweight champion I imagine.
Burns likely would have never won the title if he would have had to go through WBO World Super lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez to get it, which is why it’s so much better to have the belt handed to him without any risk involved. There will be some risk in Burns’ first legitimate world defense against former WBA World lightweight champion Paulus Moses (28-1, 19 KO’s) on March 10th.
Moses, 33, can punch and is faster than and almost as tall as Burns. Compared to the pretty limited bunch that Burns has faced during his career, Moses really stands out above that crowd. In terms of power, speed and boxing ability, you have to put Moses a level above previous Burns’ opponents like Michael Katsidis, Nicky Cook, Joseph Laryea, Andreas Evenson, Kevin O’Hara, Yousseff Al Hamidi..Etc.
The only guy that really comes close to having the same kinds of skills and power as Moses is Roman Martinez, but he was weight drained when he fought Burns in September 2010, so Burns didn’t get the best of Martinez in that fight.
Burns will no doubt try and take the fight to Moses because he’ll quickly find out that he can’t stand on the outside and peck away at Moses because he’ll be getting tagged by Moses’ power and fast, powerful left hook. Burns will initially try to box Moses in the first two rounds but will quickly abandon his efforts when things don’t work out for him.