Boxing: Fired-up Burns won’t suffer failure

Jun 17 2009 by Colin Paterson, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

CHAMPION Ricky Burns says the fear of failure will ensure he doesn’t suffer a catastrophic loss on Friday night.

Monklands’ top boxer will defend his Commonwealth Super-Featherweight title against Northern Ireland’s Kevin O’Hara at the Bellahouston Leisure Centre in Glasgow.

And Burns – who is setting his sights on a British or world title bout towards the end of the year – admits a defeat at this stage of his career would be devastating.

He told the Advertiser: “I absolutely hate the thought of getting beat. I’ve been through it before and I don’t plan on going through it again.

“There are ways of losing and you don’t want to go into the ring and walk into a punch – because that’s all it takes in boxing.

“That fear factor is at the back of your mind but it also keeps you going during the fight so it works to my advantage.

“I can’t afford to go back to the waiting list as I have been there before.

“If the worst case scenario happens and I lose on Friday, then I will have to wait for a year, maybe two, for another shot at the title.

“But if I come out on top, I know there is a British or world title fight out there for me.

“This is my mission. This Friday is my world title fight and that’s the way I’ve got to look at it.”

Burns produced a dazzling display to stop Michael Gomez in the seventh round in his last outing in March and admits he has left nothing to chance in his bid to be ready for O’Hara.

The 26-year-old added: “My preparations have been going well. There have been no setbacks and I’ve had plenty of good sparring with Willie Limond and John Simpson.

“John is quite an aggressive wee fighter. You could hit him all day and he just keeps coming forward and that is also typical of Kevin O’Hara.

“I’m 100 per cent confident in my own ability and I know I have all the tools to give this guy all the trouble in the world.

“He will try to set a fast pace and he will always be in your face but I will be going out to make a statement and looking to throw harder punches.”

Burns will be backed by an expectant crowd of 500 on Friday and feels he is getting better with every fight.

“I can see myself the improvements in my performance and I felt really good after my win over Gomez,” he added. “People were stopping me in the street to tell me how good it was.

“This is the third defence of my title and that’s good for me as I have been through patches of not fighting for six months or more.”