By Andy Clark
Pro Boxing Insider was ringside at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, to witness Ricky Burns successfully defend his WBO Lightweight title for the third time. However, the perceived unknown quantity from Puerto Rico, Jose ‘Chelo’ Gonzalez, came close to causing the upset, before quitting on his stool at the end of round 9. It is suspected that Gonzalez had suffered a broken hand.
Considering this was Gonzalez first fight on foreign soil, the extremely vocal Burns support didn’t seem to phase the challenger. Round one’s to six were fought in a similar pattern. Burns was pressing the action, behind his jab. Gonzalez fought off the back foot, using decent footwork and head movement to evade the majority of Burns‘ punches, while landing his jab more frequently and connecting with some hurtful body punches.
Photo: Andy Clark
Round 7, had the entire Emirates Arena on their feet. Gonzalez started the round well. Evading most of Burns punches while throwing accurate jabs and left hooks. At 2:22 remaining Gonzalez landed a left uppercut followed by a quality straight right. As Burns proceeded to block the next four punches, he could do nothing about the excellent counter straight right hand which landed to Burns head, with 2:16 remaining. Burns was visibly shaken and Gonzalez could sense it. He jumped straight on Burns landing 3 clear hard body shots against the ropes, then switched upstairs to tee off on the hurt Burns.
Burns managed to get his senses back as he managed to block most of what Gonzalez threw for the next minute, whilst firing back shots of his own, which lifted the crowd at the Emirates Arena, to their feet. Gonzales landed a few more bombs with a minute remaining but as the round finished Gonzalez looked to be tiring as Burns came roaring back again. The round ended and Burns slumped back into his corner after one of his toughest rounds in recent years.
Burns started round 8 well, as Gonzalez appeared to be taking a round off to get his breath back as he put everything into unsuccessfully finishing off the champion. Burns won the round, pressing the action and landing frequently with the jab. Upon reflection, if there was a hand injury, it may have happened in round 7, as Gonzalez boxed almost exclusively with the left hand throughout round 8. Gonzalez corner appeared to be working hard on Gonzalez’ legs between the final few rounds as round 7 had clearly taken a lot out of him.
Round 9 started the same as the previous round. Burns walking his man down, applying controlled pressure as Gonzalez did everything he could to evade Burns’ punches, whilst throwing only a few punches back in return. The round ended without any idea what was to come and the bell rang for the tenth.
Referee Russell Mora ran to Gonzalez’ corner to get his trainer out of the ring, so round 10 could begin, only for Gonzalez to say something to Russell Mora which prompted the referee to end the fight. Broken hand or not, Gonzalez was a spent force by the end of round 9. He appeared to have put everything into putting Burns away in round 7 and was never the same fighter going into, what turned out to be, the final two rounds of the fight. I believe it was more a conditioning issue than a lack of heart.
Before Gonzalez quit on his stool, all 3 judges had Burns losing the fight. Burns admitted to Sky Sports after the fight, he “couldn’t believe how awkward he was,” so he felt he had to slug it out with Gonzalez, as boxing behind the jab wasn’t working for the first six rounds. Gonzalez surprised Burns with his reach and by boxing on the back foot. However Burns proved once again why he is the WBO Lightweight champion. Burns heart, will to win and experience ensured he came away with the victory even thought he was shook to his core, by the classy challenger from Puerto Rico.
Ricky Burns record increased to 36-2 (11KO), whilst Jose Gonzalez’ record falls to 22-1 (17KO). Going forward, Eddie Hearn (Burns promoter at Matchroom Sports) expects Burns to be back in the ring by September, potentially with a unification fight against reigning IBF Lightweight Champion Miguel Vazquez. Gonzalez (potential injury permitting) looked at times like the real deal and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a world champion within the next couple years.
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