I had an ominous feeling for Burns tonight

There's always one. Let's ignore the lay off, lets ignore all the hassle Rick has had since beating Mitchell. Let's ignore all the weak sister opponents Frank brought in that slowed Ricky's development.

Even just looking at the fight, it was competitive. Gonzalez was winning the rounds, but Ricky was always bothering him, ruining his composure.

When he started taking punishment, Gonzalez suddenly looked a lot less keen about what was going on. He didn't break his wrist, he knew he was getting a pasting over the next three rounds and took the easy way out.

That was because of Ricky. The one major test that Ricky needed to pass, being the professional who's willing to give what he takes, he passed and Gonzalez completely failed.

 

:deal

 

Not read the posts so just say what I saw.Thought Gonzalez was gonna stop Ricky.The first 5 rounds were all his.He looked dangerous and class.But then he seemed to tire quite badly.Whether he was looking for a way out well never know.But somebody once said"I could take his punches and he couldn't take mine".Burns just might be one of those who hits harder than it appears,and he was landing a few by then.Maybe he isn't the best around the weight,but can't see more than a couple to beat him.Look at his resume now.

 

I hate this crap every time a fighter comes through a bad night to win. Burns had a bad night, caused by many things, and he stuck to the job and pulled out the win. He made Gonzalez quit - no other explanation.

To the people saying Gonzalez "lost" the fight rather than Ricky winning it, come on. That's been the cry of Zab Judah fans for years, but they ignore that Zab is a front-runner with plenty of heart and grit. But when the opponent starts putting it on him, he doesn't know how to handle it always.

But it's the opponent that makes him doubt himself. If Zab was allowed his way, he'd just potshot to a win.

 

Tipped Burns on points.Thought it was going completely wrong.Great showing.

 

How so? Is he going to let them punch him him the face and hope they get tired too? I like Ricky but he didn't deal with Gonzalez at all - Gonzalez gassed himself due to inexperience and that's why he lost. If they fought again tonight Ricky would be just as incapable of avoiding Gonzalez's shots and landing his own as he was last night, I don't really think he learned anything other than maybe he isn't as good as he is being made out to be.

I think it might have been a blessing in disguise the Vasquez fight never happened, I think Ricky would have found himself in a similar situation only with an experienced guy who can fight for the full 12.

 

The point is though that they hadn't prepared for a Vasquez type. Burns would have been set up to fight a totally different fight.

 

Well that's one way of looking at it. Completely delusional though.

Another way of looking at the fight (and a reflection of what actually happened in reality) is that Gonzalez was cruising, completely outboxing Burns and looking comfortable in there to the point where he looked like the Champion fighting a keep busy defence against some Euro guy.

However he's not an experienced champion, he's a guy who usually boxes circles around his (less durable) opponent, hurts them and then throws the kitchen sink in to finish the job. Stepping up to a tough guy like Ricky and still trying to do this when he had Burns shook in the 7th was his only mistake, Burns weathered the storm and Gonzalez's legs were gone. He could still outbox Ricky and could still slip most of his shots, he just couldn't fire back his own shots.

It had nothing to do with Ricky turning the tide and Gonzales expecting to "get a pasting" - where the **** did you get that from btw? That was never happening! - and everything to do with Gonzalez gassing himself.

Ricky didn't break his heart, he wasn't dishing out punishment, Gonzalez wasn't at any time being outboxed. He punched himself out in the 7th due to inexperience, it really is no more complicated than that.

 

Would he? I like Ricky but looking at how he completely failed to adapt to an intelligent boxer who can move fluidly and counter I can't see him doing that. Seemed like there was absolutely no advice coming from the corner either going by how Ricky didn't really change his game at all.

Gonzalez was tagging him at will and Burns couldn't deal with that, if he improves his stamina and paces himself Gonzales would dismantle him in a rematch.

 

The only delusional thing going on here is completely disregarding the fact there were two men in the ring. Boxers don't just quit, there's an action and a reaction.

All you're trying to do is take any credit away from Burns and, by extension, you're ending up discrediting Gonzalez.

 

Team Burns will just have to learn from this one and move on. If this fight makes Ricky a better fighter, then they will be more than happy about that. Ricky will learn from this and move on. It was a bit of a gimme, but like Billy said you could see the damage Ricky was doing ringside, its difficult to see some of that on TV. You feel the punches a lot more when you're sat ringside. I was right about Gonzalez, I just knew he'd turn out to be a class boxer, people were naively labeling him a crude hitter. That was completely bull**** looking back. I could tell by his padwork and the fashion of the KO's that this Gonzalez was a far classier boxer than people were giving him credit for and for 7-8 rounds the fight was going exactly as I expected. I did predict a Gonzalez points win, one of only 2 on the whole forum. I didn't put any money on it as I don't gamble. But when he pulled out on his stool going in to the 10th. I was just like his trainer. Couldnae believe it mon!

Gonzalez being better than expected shocked a lot of people, but not others or his team. I think it shocked Team Burns more than they expected, and they gave this Gonzalez all the respect in the lead up. I think that speaks volumes of the performance of Gonzalez last night. If he won that fight last night and battled through the last few rounds, as I said before the fight, people would rise up and take notice of this hidden gem. There was an aura and attitude about Gonzalez all week. That turned out to be the case and Ricky just could not figure out that little half step back he was doing. Ricky was missing narrowly, but Gonzalez was making the most slightest of movements, how he was making Ricky miss, I'll never know. Because he didn't actually have the fastest of reactions, he didnt move his head that quick, or his upper body. He was a bit stiff up top, but somehow he was making Ricky miss and clocking up the rounds convincingly.

Maybe it was ring rust, maybe it was Gonzalez. Billy said himself he had no concerns going into this fight with Ricky, because he is the hardest worker he has ever trained with and has trained for 2 fights being out of the ring. Billy also said he had no problem making weight and looked great on the scales. I said it Friday, he looked a bit dry and gaunt. Whether any of that played its part, I don't know. I'd personally like to think that Jose Gonzalez was just that good and give him the credit he deserves.

Ricky got an early Christmas present last night, open it, crack a bottle, but never forget it and make sure to learn from it. These presents dont come around to often.

I've heard over night that Gonzalez reckons he has broke an arm. :good

 

I thought Eubank too. Other than the constant switch hitting (which by the way was so smooth that I barely noticed the switch at times).
Broken hand/wrist is bull though. At the end of the fight he's shaking Ricky's hand whilst having his glove yanked off the other and he looked fine. Plus... Not once during the last break did his corner so much as look toward his hand. No gestures from Gonzalez, nothing. He gassed out I reckon.

 

Something stinks. You're way ahead on the cards and injure yourself...

Do you;
A) pull out and lose by default or,
B) adopt your southpaw stance and jab like **** for 9 minutes and possibly/probably leave the building with a world title.

I just can't see it myself

 

I'm not trying to discredit anybody, all I'm doing is being honest about what actually happened rather than trying to make out like Burns was geting a handle on the situation and "breaking his heart" atsch. However if you want to play that game then the only thing Burns deserves credit for is being extremely well conditioned and putting the roadwork in so he could fight at a good pace (all the while being outboxed) and do a full 12 if he needed to, which tbh often he does.

Gonzalez obviously isn't used to fighting like that for a full 12 and it showed, that's the fault of him and his team. He is used to opponents who would not be standing at the end of round 7, instead he had Ricky who is a very tough guy.

But lets not kid ourselves here, Gonzalez didn't quit because Ricky was hurting him - he hurt himself through poor decisions and I assume an inadequate training regime. To say that he was taking heavy shots from Ricky and didn't fancy it is laughable, he physically had nothing else to give and his legs were gone.

At the end of the fight Burns had no more clue about how to box this guy than he did in round 1.

 

Some of you are giving Burns entirely too much credit. He got outboxed comprehensively and then his opponent gave the fight away by some combination of gassing out and injuring himself. Tried to keep on for two rounds and realized Burns was going to get to him regardless of what he did, and quit.

Bottom line is Burns didn't find a way to win, turn the tide, break his heart, or any of that nonsense. Gonzalez had some bad luck and didn't handle it as well as all of us badasses would have.

If Gonzalez produces xrays of a broken bone or something, I feel like not giving him a rematch is the equivalent of Khan ducking Prescott. Guy shows you up and you just decide to move in a different direction rather than confront your shortcomings head on and try to fix them.

It would say a lot about Burns if he won a rematch. A whole lot.