Must admit I had £25 quid on a Martinez KO - saw him at Khan v Barrera really fancied a KO - but fair play to Burns really ground it out. Who'd have thought that the Burns I saw at Upton Park would beat the Martinez I saw at the MEN. Billy Nelson should be the smuggest bugga in Britain right now - noone believed him!!
don't think it needs to be said but congrats to both Billy & Ricky. That was my first live fight, so I should probably just quit while I'm ahead because I doubt I'll ever see anything as captivating as that. Atmosphere was immense, but out of hope more than expectation and Burns is probably right when saying that only him and his camp truely believed he was taking home the title... ****ing yass!
Billy many congratulation to you and your team and obviously espcially Ricky Burns for putting your plan into action. To come up with the opposite to what most thought and make Ricky work off the front foot jab and then keep backing Martinez up was very clever, he had no answer to that. Most thought back foot jab and run etc but clearly that would not have worked as he would have caught up with Ricky at some point, without taking some of the heavy shots that Ricky was landing going forward. By god you earned your money in that corner, Ricky's mind still seems to wander and you were working overtime trying to get him to concentrate, some might say it was Ricky relaxing and thats good but personally it worried me and for the last 5 rounds I was pacing around my living room uttering plenty of expletives but basically saying for ****s sake listen to Billy and concentrate, its your title son. So pleased for your all, kick on with him now Billy make his future secure, big bucks for the kid now and oh how he deserves it.
My highlight of the fight was Burns throwing a sharp body punch in the last round that clearly hurt Martinez. Martinez, to his credit, didn't appear massively hurt - just massively frustrated and if there was any doubt in the judges' mind that he had lost the fight, it was that moment when he crashed his gloves together. A good fight, with a nice mix of styles. Billy, this is in no way a discredit to either you or Ricky, but do you have plans to work on his power? Even if there was only a slight improvement on the pop behind those punches he would be a massive danger to some of the biggest names in the division.
Well done Ricky and Billy. What a great way to start off the new season. Quality fight, amazing atmosphere, reminded me of why I love boxing. I met Billy and Ricky once, in hotel in Cardiff the night before Calzaghe Kessler and they were both top guys. I've always kept an eye out for Ricky's results since then. I was jumping round my front room most of the night and I could hardly watch the last round. That what's boxing's all about...if only we could have more matches and nights like these.:happy
Rickys punching harder now than at any time in his career, he punches harder than his record suggests,lets put it this way Romans face was black and blue after the fight that never happened with ricky kissing him.
Rocky's never going to be a massive puncher, but it was blatantly obvious that he has enough to make his opponents respect him. He had Martinez rocked several times.
Congrats to you and your boy. Proved me and countless others wrong. Made up for him. Well deserved victory and hope he has a succesful reign.