By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated former lightweight champion Omar Figueroa Jr. will be moving up in weight this Saturday, May 9 when he takes on former two-division titleholder Ricky Burns at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. The 12-round junior welterweight fight will be an afternoon affair since it’s being broadcast by the regular CBS network as a part of the Premier Boxing Champions Series. Fans in the UK can catch the action live on Sky Sports.
The 25-year-old Figueroa of Westlaco, Texas steps into the ring with a near-perfect record of 24-0-1 with 18 Kos to his name. The 32-year-old Burns of Coatbridge, Scotland is 37-4-1 with 11 Kos. The most noticeable difference here is the knockout power of these two boxers. Figueroa has stopped 72 per cent of his opponents while Burns KO percentage is just 26.19. Burns does have the height advantage though since he’s 5-feet-10 inches tall while Figueroa is just over 5-feet-7. Figueroa has the edge in reach with a wingspan of 73 inches while Burns reach measures 70 inches.
Figueroa is an action fighter with a big punch and he’s hoping his power will travel north with him to the heavier weight division. Burns is a former lightweight champ who has already moved up to the junior welterweights one fight ago and he’ll need a solid chin to handle his opponent’s power. But even if the Texan doesn’t manage to stop his foes his relentless volume punches usually overwhelm them. In addition, he’s also pretty accurate with them. This doesn’t really bode well for Burns.
The Scotsman is undoubtedly a durable veteran who’s beaten the likes of former and current champions such as Roman Martinez, Kevin Mitchell, Paulus Moses and Michael Katsidis. However, he’s not really in the Grade A level. He’ll need to be at his very best to beat Figueroa since his lack of power means he’s really going to have to win this fight by a decision. That’ a lot easier said than done against Figueroa since he’ll have to outwork the American and that’s certainly a tall order.
Burns has lost two out of his last three fights, but promotional and managerial lawsuits have left him close to bankruptcy. This could be his last chance at a big-money fight. He lost his WBO Lightweight title to American Terence Crawford by unanimous decision in March of 2014 and ten dropped a 12-round split decision to Dejan Zlaticanin last June. Burns turned pro back in 2001 and has fought 313 rounds since then while Figueroa has gone 99 rounds since 2008. His biggest wins have come against Nihito Arakawa, Abner Cotto and Daniel Estrada.
Prediction
Figueroa can be hit, but Burns doesn’t really have the power to stop him. Burns has a decent chin, but has been down before. He’ll need to use his boxing skills to keep Figueroa on the back foot as much as possible and make his opponent worry about covering up rather than launching a prolonged attack. Burns needs to fight a perfect bout here to pull out a win, but it’s likely not going to happen. Expect to see Figueroa eventually wear him down and take a unanimous decision or late stoppage.
