Ricky Burns – Kiryl Relikh: Breaking It By Down By the Numbers
WBA super lightweight world champion Ricky “Rickster” Burns, will make the first defense of his title against undefeated mandatory challenger Kiryl Relikh on October 7th from the the SSE Hydro, in Glasgow, Scotland; Eddie Hearn of Matchroom boxing announced Friday.
Burns, 40-5-1, 14 KO’s won the vacant WBA super lightweight title with an eighth round TKO over outclassed former European champion Michele Di Rocco. Burns joined Bob Fitzsimmons and Duke McKenzie to become the third British born fighter to win world titles in three different weight classes (super featherweight, lightweight, and super lightweight).
Relikh, 21-0, 19 KO’s is a hard hitting super lightweight contender from Belarus, and is ranked #1 by the WBA. He has stopped his last 12 opponents, and looks to continue that streak against Burns. In his last fight, Relikh successfully defended his WBA Inter-continental super lightweight title for the second time; dominating and defeating Joaquim Carneiro as his corner threw in the towel in the fourth round. After the fight; Relikh’s promoter and trainer; Ricky Hatton, said that he believes his fighter should have fought Michele Di Rocco for the Vacant WBA super lightweight title instead of Burns.
Also on the card; we will see Scott Cardle attempt to defend his British lightweight title against Kevin Hooper, and a six round lightweight scrap between prospects Charlie Flynn, 8-0, 1 KO and Kofi Yates, 13-2, 1 KO. We will also see heavyweight fighter Dillian Whyte, 18-1, 14 KO’s back in action in a 10 round fight, and super-bantamweight prospect Joe Ham, 8-0, 5 KO’s in a 6 round bout.
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