Big weekend for the Scots

Massive weekend of Boxing coming up North of the Border, with the new star of British Boxing, Ricky Burns, making the first defence of his interim WBO lightweight title at the Braehead Arena.

Big night for Burns

Burns (33-2, 9 KO's) became a two weight world champion with a fantastic performance against the dangerous Michael Katsidis last time out at Wembley Arena, using his fantastic skills to claim a unanimous decision over 12 rounds. The Coatbridge man is one of the most improved fighters in world Boxing and he's already ranked #7 in the world in what's an exceptionally competitive division. Even though I was massively impressed with what I saw last time out in November, the fact he didn't defend his super featherweight title against anyone of note still raises one or two doubts. However he's such a nice guy and very dedicated under the expert leadership of trainer Billy Nelson.

Moses brings a top pedigree

His opponent this weekend is Paulus Moses (28-1, 19 KO's) who's held the WBA title and is ranked #31 in the world, so does have some credibility. He won that WBA title in January 2009 away in Japan against Yusuke Kobori, before making a successful defence at home against another Japanese fighter in the tough Takehiro Shimada, easily winning a UD over 12. However after that he ran into the big punching Venezuelan Miguel Acosta, and was stopped in six in front of his home crowd, which will no doubt raise some doubts over his chin. Since then he's had three fights, all at home, and against nobody near the same level of ability as Burns. He's experienced, has a 65.62 KO% and can win on the road, so he's a pretty good challenger.


Should be a real good fight on Saturday night, Burns is a pretty strong 1.2 favourite with the bookies, and although he might be able to test Moses' chin now that he's a lot more comfortable at this weight, I think it will be a hard 12 round fight, which Burns should show his superior technical ability.

Appleby needs to start stepping up

The main undercard bout sees the vacant Celtic super featherweight title on the line as home favourite Paul Appleby (17-3, 11 KO's) faces Ireland's Stephen Ormond (11-0, 5 KO's). It should be a really good fight with Appleby's last one an absolute cracker against Liam Walsh at York Hall for the Commonwealth title. Appleby is the bookies favourite, but the worry I have is that he's lost his last three title fights and that last fight was a hard one. Ormond is fresh and is ahead of him in the rankings (110th in the world, Appleby 181st), and has also been away in the US in the past for fights and sparring. He's not faced the hardest opponents, but no unbeaten fighter should ever be underestimated.

Johnson boxed for Scotland as an amateur

Some awesome prospects on this bill, Commonwealth medallist Callum Johnson (3-0, 1 KO) is a fighter going places, he trains at Gallagher's Gym in Manchester, and simply needs to be a bit more active. He has a hard night's work ahead of him with the very tough Belfast man Tommy Tolan. Cruiserweight Stephen Simmons (3-0, 1 KO) has the same record as Johnson and is another good Billy Nelson fighter coming through. What I've seen of him he's a really solid boxer and has got some good experience under his belt already in beating Nick Okoth, Hari Miles and John Anthony. This weekend he takes on Hastings Rasani, who's never an easy guy to stop.


A guy I'm really looking forward to watching and tracking his future progress is Glasgow's super featherweight Jon Slowey (7-0, 0 KO's). This kid is a very talented boxer, and as reported in last week's Boxing News, he's recently been out in Thailand sparring some world champions, including ex super bantam king Poonsawat. I heard he did really well in those sessions, and that kind of sparring will be a massive help to a young fighter like himself. Fellow Scot James Ancliff is his opponent this weekend, which on paper is a step up in class.


Symington light welterweight Sammy Hill (2-0, 0 KO's) has shown some excellent skills in two pro fights so far, and after being involved in two pretty small shows in Scotland, gets a chance for some big bill experience here against Matt Seawright. John Thain (5-0, 1 KO) is a light middleweight attracting some hype, while 20 year old lightweight Jordan McCorry (2-0, 1 KO's) has a step up in class against Youssef Al Hamidi.


There is a debutant on the card this weekend as well, that being Leeds welterweight Damon Jones, who I've heard quite a bit about and has turned pro a little sooner than expected. He had some decent success last year as an amateur and this weekend he takes on Liam Griffiths, stopped just once in nine fights and has gone the distance with a lot of unbeaten prospects.


It is a massive weekend for Scottish Boxing and on Friday night we shouldn't forget about super featherweight Michael Roberts (6-0, 0 KO's) who headlines a bill at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow, as he takes on Pavels Senkovs. Roberts is a really talented fighter, he's not beaten the greatest opposition so far, but has shown some solid, raw skill.


Great to see so much talent coming through in Scotland and it's a simple case of success breeding success with Ricky Burns spearheading the renaissance of Scottish Boxing. The bill is live on BoxNation and hopefully they will show a good few of these Prospects, who deserve some TV coverage and hype.