RICKY BURNS will take to the ring for the 50th professional bout of his career this evening, but the 35-year-old has insisted that he is far from finished as a boxer.
Burns will take on Ivan Niegac in Newcastle and while the Coatbridge man, who became a three-weight world champion over the course of his seventeen year career, is not fighting for global titles anymore, he insists that he is not quite ready to hang up the gloves.
“The Ricky Burns story is not finished just yet,” Burns told Sky Sports.
“I’ve got no regrets in my career, I’ve lived it. I’m proud to say I’m a three-weight world champion and still think there’s a couple of big fights in me.
“That being said, I have a job to do tonight for those opportunities to come to fruition. I’ve never boxed in Newcastle before so am looking forward to the atmosphere.”
Burns may have been usurped by Josh Taylor as Scotland’s pre-eminent active boxer but an impressive performance in his last outing, which saw him lose only narrowly to Anthony Crolla on points last October, means Burns is be keen to have another shot at the Englishman.
““I’d love to get the Crolla rematch,” he said.
“I’ve watched our first fight back a couple of times and I think it was a draw in all honesty. Whether it can be made or not is another matter. He needs to get his finger out.”
Burns may have established himself as one of Scotland’s greatest-ever fighters with his win over Michele Di Rocco to become this country’s first-ever three-weight world champion but back-to-back defeats in 2017, to Julius Indongo and then Crolla, resulted in many observers suggesting that Burns should call it a day. But his win against Di Rocco, which many people doubted would happen, proved, insists Burns, that he can pick up victories when it is least expected.
“We made history with the Di Rocco win,” Burns said.
“I wasn’t to be denied on that night. People were writing me off, saying I should retire but again I showed people otherwise. The scenes that followed will stay with me for a while and it was a proud moment.”
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