Ricky Burns has been getting fired-up for his showdown with English rival Kevin Mitchell by watching Scotland’s epic 1990 Five Nations victory over England.
The Scottish star puts his World Boxing Organization (WBO) World Lightweight title on the line in a Battle of Britain against Mitchell at Glasgow’s SECC on Saturday 22nd September, live and exclusive on BoxNation (Sky Ch. 437/Virgin Ch. 546).
Burns was just seven when Scotland’s heroic rugby team beat England in one of their biggest all-time wins against their Auld rival at Murrayfield.
A Scottish team led by David Sole and world-class players like Gavin Hastings and John Jeffrey were the underdogs against an England side captained by Will Carling and a star line up including Jeremy Guscott and Rory Underwood, but they pulled off a ‘Rocky’ style upset to win 13-7.
Author Tom English later wrote a book about the match called The Grudge and plans are afoot to turn it into a film.
“Like any Scottish sports fan knows, that win by out national team in 1990 at Murrayfield is probably one of our biggest and most famous wins to date in sport against the English,” Said Burns.
“Although I was only seven at the time I remember the passion of the Scottish players and what it meant to win in a match that they were the underdogs, but they showed real fighting spirit and everyone still remembers and talks about the win today, and it was over twenty years ago,”
“My dad still has a video of the match and I watched it the other day, just seeing it stirred-up the passion in me to beat Mitchell next month. Seeing the iconic images of David Sole leading out the Scottish team to battle and the singing of the Flower of Scotland really got me choked up. The only other time I feel like this is when I watch Rocky IV!”
With the domestic blockbuster just over three weeks away, Burns starting to feel the big fight pressure and is promising it will bring out the best in him.
He added, “As the fight between me and Mitchell gets closer, the hype and tension is building up. I know that this is probably the biggest fight in Scottish boxing history between the two nations and it’s the biggest fight of my life, so I know at times I’m going to have to dig deep and beyond to beat Mitchell and keep hold of my world title,”
“This is the fight that will really bring the best out of me, just like Roman Martinez and Michael Katsidis did. Mitchell’s a top quality fighter, he’s not afraid of coming up to Scotland and really fancies his chances of beating me, but I’m not going to let him take my title.”
Burns v Mitchell will be televised live and exclusive on BoxNation (Sky Ch. 437/Virgin Ch. 546). Join now at www.boxnation.com
Tickets, priced at £50, £75, £100, £150 and £200, are available from Eventim on 0844 249 1000 or online at eventim.co.uk and Ticket Soup on 0844 295 4000 or ticketSOUP.com
