Ricky Burns vs. Terence Crawford weigh-in

Just now, Sky Sports News.

 

Burns 9 stone plus eight and four. (134lbs 4oz.)
Crawford 9 stone plus eight and six (134lbs 6oz.)

 

Damn Skippy. :yep

We also get Jim Watt - the Scottish lightweight champion frequently accused of being a 'homer', the spiritual predecessor and chief among his media supporters (you have to favorrrr the cleanerrrr and morrrre effective punches of Rrrrrricky Burrrrrrrrrns!!!) - picking Crawford. :shock:

(it's allllll about lllllllllevellllls....)

 

Of course, despite getting a lot of stick and sometimes appearing to be the captain of the Scottish boxing cheerleader squad klitfanb), can be impartial...he did have Beltran defeating Burns 115-113, in line with most neutral observers.

 

:good I would agree with that.

Burns has never fought anyone nearly as skillful as Crawford.

OTOH, Crawford has never fought anyone nearly as good as Burns.

(note the important distinction in language used there)

The most skillful opponent Burns has fought to date is probably Chelo Gonzalez, followed by Ray Beltran. (Rocky Martinez is a tough kid with heavy enough hands but has little else going on and was honestly never cut out to be world champ, at least for long: he only had to beat Nicky Cook for the WBO title and made two weak defenses prior to Burns; then his subsequent reign was a shambles, marred by gift decisions over Beltran Jr., Burgos and Magdaleno before Garcia sorted him out. Kevin Mitchell tops out at domestic level tbh, as did Cook despite his brief dalliance with championship. Moses is alright, decently skilled with a solid engine but sort of a one-trick pony with his uppercut. Katsidis was a fading action hero already showing the cumulative effects of so many wars. All very good fighters, mind you, but none of them overly possessed of dazzling fine-tuned boxing skill...)

The best opponent Crawford has fought is probably Klimov or Prescott. (one a limited puncher who looks awful when you take away his jab, the other a cutesy Russian stylist whose biggest test had been John Molina with only barely a passing grade...bottom line, a skillful technician but a coward and thoroughly afraid to get hit... Then you have Sanabria, a gutsy try-hard but who purely on talent really belongs on the Mexican national scene and nowhere else...)

:think

 

Anthony Joshua was just interviewed.

He gave the usual platitudes about being happy to be there, and I think he quipped something about being able to shrug off trash-talk from his opponent Hector Avila on the grounds that he doesn't speak any Spanish.

 

Fit as fiddles, both.

Burns wore a confident grin. (or barely held it back, at times)

Crawford mostly looked "Yeah, whatever" - as though he might end up testing positive for marijuana.