Rocky Night In Prospect For Burns At Kelvin Hall
By: Andrew Harrison
Category: john simpson, martin lindsay, paul truscott, ricky burns, rocky martinez, stephen smith, swifty
Sky Sports kicks off its new boxing schedule this weekend with an intriguing double header from north of the border. Coatbridge’s Ricky Burns finds himself with the opportunity of his professional lifetime, an alphabet title tilt at Puerto Rican puncher Roman Martinez at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. Once again, Frank Warren has come up with the goods for one of his fighters, it’s now over to Burns to see if he can uphold his part of the bargain.
Burns (28-2, 7 kayos) is a good mover with a nice jab and has plenty of chutzpah, assets which have notched him victories over the likes of Graham Earl, Michael Gomez and Kevin O’Hara. Unfortunately for the Scottish stylist, he is in all likelihood out of his depth here.
Martinez (24-0-1, 15 kayos) has invaded the UK previously, when in March of last year he relieved Dagenham’s Nicky Cook of his WBO title on the undercard of the Amir Khan-Marco Antonio Barrera attraction in Manchester. I was present that night and after making his way to the ring as a bit of an unknown quantity, “Rocky” soon revealed himself to be a quality operator in dismantling Cook within four rounds after he himself weathered a wobble in the second (Cook has not fought since).
As ever, Warren has strived to gain his man home advantage and Burns will surely give it his all, looking to box a determined fight from behind his jab. Despite this, I’m not at all convinced he can keep the tough little battler he faces here at bay for the full twelve rounds and whilst he may have sufficiently sturdy whiskers and enough savvy to last until the final bell, he should be well beaten in this, the biggest fight of his career.
The chief support is equally fascinating, with 10 fight prospect and former amateur standout Stephen “Swifty” Smith stepping up several levels to tackle Greenock’s John Simpson for the Scot’s Commonwealth featherweight title. The winner is guaranteed a crack at British champ Martin Lindsay next up, so the stakes are high for both.
Smith will be hauling plenty of support with him from his hometown of Liverpool, however, he’ll be plunged into deep waters in an intimidating setting to boot. Whilst he’s looked impressive on his way up, question marks remain as one would expect at this stage of his fledgling career.
Simpson is a proven performer and despite losing six of his twenty seven bouts he’s never been stopped and has shown previous in putting the skids under an unbeaten hotshot. Middlesborough’s Paul Truscott had tallied a 12-0 (1) ledger prior to meeting Simpson, yet was dragged into a scrap by his veteran opponent, losing his newly acquired Commonwealth strap when the bout was halted due to facial damage suffered on the part of Truscott. Simpson repeated the feat eight months later, stopping his man in the tenth round of a bloody encounter.
Simpson is favourite at odds of around 4/7 and is rated at number four in Boxing Monthly’s British rankings, whilst Smith (rated ninth) can be lassoed at 6/5. At the beginning of the week I thought the odds on Smith were an absolute steal and when doubling these with a Martinez victory, felt certain I’d be banking a decent little return come Sunday morning. After pouring over videos of Simpson, my optimism has deteriorated slightly. His fitness, seasoning and ability to take a shot are precisely the attributes one would look for against a talented but untested prospect. He may find himself down on the cards early, yet his calling card is to apply pressure as the fight progresses, precisely when Smith might be experiencing the first doubts of his pro career.
In a testament to Smith’s inherent talent, I’m tipping the Scots to be crying into their beer come the final bell of the evening as Martinez and Smith take the spoils. The double can be found at around 13/8.
Photo credit: Joel A Colon/PR Best Boxing
4 comments on “Rocky Night In Prospect For Burns At Kelvin Hall”
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I see Burns getting off to a good start here. His movement, jab and spoiling tactics will confuse and frustrate Martinez early on, but unfortunately for Burns he just doesn’t have the snap to keep the Puerto Rican off him for twelve rounds. A points win for Martinez looks the safe bet, but I’m going with a mid-round stoppage. This fight is all about levels and I just think Burns is a level or two below the likes of Martinez.
I’m loving the Simpson-Smith fight and I think it’ll be a cracker. Almost everyone I’ve spoken to favours Smith, but I just think the Scot is a bit too seasoned for him at this stage. I have a soft spot for Simpson having followed his career ever since he was disgracefully robbed against Dazzo Williams. He’s like a domestic level B-Hop, in the sense that he wasn’t blessed with bucket loads of natural talent, but has quietly and steadily learned his trade over the years and is now a solid, experienced operator who’s a tough night’s work for anyone. I’m tipping Simpson to edge out Smith in what should be fight of the night.
The winner, I believe, fights Martin Lindsay and by God will that be a sizzler or what?
I think Burns fancies he can box from range and put rounds in the bag, after re-watching Martinez-Cook, it surprised me just how successful Nicky was in that fight during spells. Burns looks very nervous to me though which can hoover up energy and may leave him fading after the half way point as you say Dave. I agree, a kayo for the Puerto Rican between 6 and 9.
I genuinely feel “Swifty”-Simpson is the fight of the night, I’ve lumped some money on Smith, as I say, more out of faith in his ability over anything he’s actually accomplished in the paid ranks to date. Smith will probably receive a gut check at around the round five mark, it’ll be how he handles that which will dictate the fight. If he starts to doubt himself and starts to give a little, Simpson will come at him like a steam train.
Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how Smith handles Simpson’s pressure. Steven Bell, who never really looked like a man who believed in himself, fell apart when Simpson started to pour it on and I fancy the same thing might happen to Smith tomorrow night (although I think it’ll go the distance).
There’s an inner steel and hardness about Simpson that you just can’t learn or be taught in a gym. But maybe Smith comes of age tomorrow and shows the kind of character one needs to go far in the paid ranks. That’s what makes this fight so fascinating. Looking forward to it.
I’m so glad boxing’s back on the box. Saturday nights are now worth staying in for!
I wouldn’t be half as worried for Smith’s chances if the fight wasn’t in Glasgow-home advantage can work wonders as we’ve seen in the Super Six. There’ll be plenty of scousers on hand though I guess.