Omar Figueroa vs. Ricky Burns

Chief support for Chavez Jr. vs. Fonfara, on April 18th, probably on NBC.

Figueroa will be making his third defense of the WBC 135lb title. Burns, formerly the WBO 135lb champion until last March, is rated #23 by the WBC and is coming off an eight-rounder in October that snapped his 2014 loss streak at 2.

Burns has three inches of height on Figueroa but is giving up three inches of reach. Burns has been pro seven years longer and has more tread on his tires (but, double-edged sword, a deeper wealth of experience) having boxed over thrice as many pro rounds.

It should boast some good action in the middle of the ring, anyway, even if the champ will either way be only at most the 5th or 6th best h2h lightweight in the world in truth. :conf Both of these guys are willing to rumble, sometimes at their own expense.

 

Yeah, I strongly favor the little panther myself, in fact I'd be dumbfounded if he found a way to lose (even with an off night like with Belmontes) - the only question is whether he can become the first to stop the Scotsman.

I hesitate to answer, because while Burns has never been hard to find and pretty much getting steadily worse lately every time out (dating back to midway through his WBO reign, very easily hit by Beltran and Chelo and even some earlier opponents) he is notoriously hard-boiled. Stopping him would take some doing. Then again, on top form, Omar is a beast. The kind that stops guys that don't generally otherwise get stopped, or at least not in such brutal fashion. Like for instance Michael Perez, Abner Cotto, Daniel Estrada. He also can't be faulted too much for going the distance with the last few guys that stretched him. Jerry Belmontes and Nihito Arakawa (for completely different reasons, the former because of slickness and the latter because of his stupid good chin) don't ever get stopped, period. On the other hand, Dom Salcido went ten with him and was never so much as down while Anthony Peterson took him out in 2, Ilidio Julio in 5, and Chente Escobedo in 6... :think
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I miss Dom Salcido, btw.

He was a colorful character and made for good TV. He was game every time even when he was outmatched.

 

His opponent, a Frenchman by the name of Alexandre Lepelley, sported a daunting 17-1-1 (3) record. :scaredas:

 

Ah, snickerdoodles - you are correct.

The stupid WBC still lists him as the champ on their website. :twisted:

 

So, hell, this might not even be a 12-rounder?

I mean, it shouldn't be, if Figgy has no belt in his possession and Burns is ranked all the way down at #23 (not that we can trust all the info on the WBC site to be up to date, though, apparently :roll and coming off an eight-rounder.

This shouldn't even be an eliminator.

Absolutely no reason to be scheduled past ten.