Burns-Katsidis; two fighters at a crossroads

 

His first defence was always likely to be something of a soft touch, given the tough nature of his fight with Martinez.

 

In September of last year at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall, Burns produced a career-best performance to unseat the unbeaten, and heavily favoured, champion “Rocky” Martinez by Unanimous Decision. In front of a partisan crowd, the Scot recovered from an early knockdown to out-box and, surprisingly, out-fight Martinez. Burns capitalised on his opponents tendency to lean forward on the inside by scoring heavily with his right-uppercut. It was a trick he repeated all night, leaving the Puerto Rican confused and unable to get into his usual rhythm. Whilst this victory gained Burns recognition as one of the world’s top 130 lb’ers, there is a concern that his opposition since then hasn’t been of the requisite quality to prepare him for a challenge like the one he faces this Saturday. 

 

Carrying a modest record of 13-1, Andreas Evensen fit the bill. Tough but limited, the Columbian was handily out-pointed as the “Rickster” landed his punches seemingly at will.

 

The fight was noteable though, as Burns (much like he did against Martinez) was more reliant on his power-shots than he ever was earlier in his career. Despite having the reputation of a “boxer” with negligable knockout power, Ricky has been sitting down on his punches more of late and the right-uppercut which worked so well on the night he won the title, is a punch which now seems to be a major part of his repetoire.

 

Indeed, the next two defences of his title would end in stoppage victories, albiet the latter in slightly farcical circumstances.

 

Joseph Laryea had ruined promoter Frank Warren’s plan of an all-Scottish title showdown between Burns and Paul Appleby by scoring an upset over Appleby on the Burns-Evensen undercard. Despite this victory, his qualifications to be a world title challenger were questionable.

 

Although better than his record of 14-4 would indicate, Laryea wasn’t the kind of test that fans were hoping to see Burns receive. The Ghana native was forced to retire after seven rounds of fairly one-sided action and although Ricky again looked impressive, the nature of the win is tempered by the quality of opposition.

 

With Burns being vocal in his desire to earn the Ring Championship by challenging Mzonke Fana, it was slightly disappointing that his next opponent was Nicky Cook. Having fought only six rounds in over two years since losing to Roman Martinez, there were fears that the Englishman wouldn’t be in the kind of shape required to provide a genuine challenge.

 

Unfortunately, those fears were, if anything, under-played.

 

 

Cook, who it later emerged carried a back injury into the fight, collapsed in agony barely 30 seconds into the first round.

 

Clearly in no condition to continue, the fight was stopped and Burns had a third successful, if underwhelming, title defence.

 

Afterwards, it was no great surprise to see Burns make the move to Lightweight. At 5’10”, he was very tall for the 130 lb division and, after struggling lately to make the limit, the time is clearly right for the move up.

 

Given how carefully Frank Warren has matched him lately, it’s perhaps surprising that his first fight at 135lbs will be against a proven warrior like Katsidis, 28-4 (23). The Australian is no stranger to British fans, having beaten both Graham Earl and Kevin Mitchell on these shores.

 

The fight with Earl was particularly thrilling and provided an early indication of the action Katsidis would provide us with.

 

A blood-and-guts warrior who was made for television, he has been in several Fight Of The Year contenders. His bloody victory over Czar Amonsot was a perfect introduction to American fight fans, who’ve since been treated to an unforgettable fight with Joel Casamayor and memorable battles with Juan Manuel Marquez, Robert Guerrero and Juan Diaz, among others.

 The one criticism of Katsidis is that he’s generally fallen short against the elite. His come-forward, all-action style has been exposed as somewhat one-dimensional against the divisions best. After a tough spell in which he not only lost to Marquez and Guerrero but tragically lost his brother Stathi, who died at the age of 31, after battling problems with drug and alcohol abuse.

 

Katsidis has since rebounded by defeating Michael Lozada in Australia but Saturday will give us a much better indication of where he is. Unfortunately for the fans, warriors like Katsidis have a finite shelf-life. All the punishment he’s taken is likely to catch up with him sooner rather than later but it’s possible he still has a lot to offer.

 

As he’s only lost to the better fighters in his weight-class, it would be premature to dismiss Katsidis as a “shot” fighter. He will undoubtedly be eager to prove that the still belongs in the mix with the Lightweight elite and a win against Burns would reinforce that view.

 

Conversely, a loss would be a significant blow at this point in his career. At 31, with his style of fighting, Katsidis can’t have many more runs at the top left in him. Losing on Saturday would mean a long route back to the top and, at this stage, he can’t afford to waste any time.

 

Although Burns is coming into this fight off a successful title reign, he is the fighter with more to prove. He’s never consistently mixed in the kind of company his opponent has and if he wishes to recreate his success at Super-Featherweight, this is a fight he must win. A win over Katsidis would open the door to big fights on both sides of the Atlantic whereas a loss would see some dismiss him, fairly or not, as simply being an over-protected fighter.

 

Burns is the taller man, with a 4 inch reach advantage that he’ll have to make full use of if he wantes to keep the hard-punching Katsidis off him. The jab was known as Burns’ best weapon earlier in his career and it’ll be interesting to see if he can box a disciplined fight behind it, or if he’ll fight in the more aggressive style which marked his Super-Featherweight reign.

 

The latter would arguably play into Katsidis’ hands and if Ricky wants to be successful in the biggest fight of his career, a more conservative approach might be wise.

 

Regardless of which style Burns employs, the chances are that, as with every Katsidis fight, the fans will get their money’s worth.

 

With both men at a career crossroads, this is a fight that neither can afford to lose.