Ricky Burns vs Julius Indongo on Saturday Night – Scotland’s Ricky Burns (41-5-1) returns to action this Saturday, April 9th as he looks to unify world titles at 140 pounds. Burns has no held world titles in three different weight classes and he will go down as one of Scotland’s finest fighting products. This WBA world title title defense, in many ways, could be a prelude to big money fights for Burns.
Burns is facing Namibian Julius Indongo, who brings an undefeated 21-0 record to the table as well as the IBF world title. Indongo had fought his entire career in Namibia before he traveled to Russia last December as a huge underdog to face then-IBF champion Eduard Troyanovsky. Indongo has 11 stoppages in his 21 career fights but he went 3-0 in 2016, stopping all of his opponents before the distance. The whitewash of Troyanovsky came just 40 seconds into their title match and set up this pay day against the popular Burns.
Burns is fighting in front of his audience at the SSE Hydro and many thought he was done with being a world championship level fighter back in March of 2014 when he lost his WBO 135-pound lightweight title to Terence Crawford. Before that fight, he managed to retain his belt with a draw against veteran Ray Beltran, but most observers feel Beltran was robbed in that fight. Burns followed the loss to Crawford with another loss to undefeated Montenegran Dejan Zlaticanin. That was his last fight as a lightweight.
Burns’ move to super lightweight didn’t start off well, as he lost to highly regarded American prospect Omar Figueroa before running off wins in his last four fights. Burns beat Australia’s Josh King to set up a match with 40-1-1 Michele Di Rocco of Italy for the vacant WBA world title in May of 2016. The eighth-round stoppage for Burns put him back in the world title picture and he made a successful title defense against undefeated Kiryl Relikh this last October.
What makes Burns interesting in this weight class is how much of an attraction he is in Scotland, where he has fought most of his career. If he gets by Indongo he could be in a position to rematch Terence Crawford or Dejan Zlaticanin. Zlaticanin recently lost a WBC world title to Mikey Garcia and since Zlaticanin beat Burns by Split Decision, Burns must feel he can avenge that loss. He must get by Indongo first.
This is all gravy for Indongo. He has held the WBO’s African title at super lightweight since October of 2012 and he successfully defended that belt six times before getting the call to fight Troyanovsky. After that win in Russia, fighting in Scotland is just icing on the cake for Indongo and sometimes the most dangerous fighters are those who have very little to lose.
Ricky Burns vs Julius Indongo Saturday Night
Eddie Hearn and his Matchroom Boxing outfit have 10 fights in all planned for the live event. Check back later in the week to see if additional lines pop up at the books.
The SSE Hydro – Glasgow, Scotland
Super Lightweight 12 rounds –
Julius Indongo +175
Ricky Burns -210
Lightweight 12 rounds –
Robbie Barrett +450
Scott Cardle -750
Super Flyweight 12 rounds –
Iain Butcher +400
Charlie Edwards -600
Welterweight 4 rounds –
Jay Byne +1300
Josh Kelly -3000
Ricky Burns vs Julius Indongo Saturday Night / Check out more boxing news and features at The Sweet Science, where the best boxing writers write.
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