By Ian S Palmer
Former WBO Lightweight Champion Ricky Burns of Scotland returns to the ring at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow this Friday, June 27 when he takes on unbeaten Dejan Zlaticanin of Montenegro in a 12-round WBC elimination fight. The bout is also for the international lightweight title with the winner earning a shot at Omar Figueroa of Mexico. But first, Figueroa will defend his belt against fellow countryman Daniel Estrada. Burns lost is title to American Terence Crawford by unanimous decision back in March. Coincidentally, Crawford defends his title against Yuriorkis Gamboa of Cuba a day after this fight. The Burns vs Zlaticanin bout can be seen on Sky Sports 3 in the UK.
The 31-year-old Burns will enter the ring with a record of 36-3-1 with 11Kos while the 30-year-old unbeaten southpaw Zlaticanin has a mark of 18-0 with 13 Kos to his name. He’s also ranked number nine in the world by the WBC. Burns has turned to Tony Sims to train him since parting ways with Billy nelson and has been sparring with Kevin Mitchell to prepare for the fight. Burns said he’s more hungry now that he’s changed trainers and he wants to prove to himself and the world that he can win another world title.
Many experts have written burns off after losing to Crawford and that should motivate him for this contest, especially with the hometown fans behind him. Burns said he takes things one fight at a time and definitely isn’t looking past Zlaticanin. Burns hasn’t look too good in his last two fights though and if he performs the same way against the Montenegrin he could have another loss on his record. This is a crucial fight for Burns if he hopes t earn himself another title shot. He’s been struggling lately and he’s banking on that just being a bad spell rather than a deterioration of his boxing skills.
Burns doesn’t have much in the way of power while Zlaticanin has a decent Ko record even though he hasn’t really fought anybody of note. He’s got a good left hook and likes to apply the pressure while fighting. Burns would be wise to make sure this fight doesn’t turn into a brawl and should stick to his boxing skills as much as possible. Zlaticanin may not be well known, but considering the way Burns has performed in his last few fights he needs to be at the top of his game to win this bout.
Prediction
Burns needs a win badly here and he also has to perform a lot better than he has over the past year or so. The hometown fans won’t help if he’s facing a better opponent and that was proven when he lost the belt to Crawford. He may simply be in the twilight of his career now and his skills could be fading. If he boxes to his potential though and stays away from Zlaticanin’s power he should be able to do enough to pull out a decision here.
