Thursday 28 July 2016 10:49, UK
Trainer Adam Booth believes unbeaten bantamweight Ryan Burnett will be ready for a world title bout within the next 10 months.
The renowned trainer's latest charge takes on Cesar Ramirez on the undercard of Josh Warrington versus Patrick Hyland, live on Sky Sports at the First Direct Arena, Leeds, on Saturday. And you can follow Burnett's bout on our live stream at skysports.com/boxing from 6pm.
Burnett (13-0-KO9) is the British bantamweight champion but Booth, the man behind two-weight world champion David Haye, world title challenger George Groves and former WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee, is confident he has another star in the making.
"I am completely happy with Ryan," Booth told Sky Sports in an exclusive interview. "I know how he is developing as a young man and as a fighter and I genuinely will be surprised if in 10 months we are not having a conversation about Ryan and his upcoming world title fight.
"He is British champion and the next logical step is European and when you are in there, you are essentially in the world title level and you should be.
"Eddie Hearn's plan is for him to fight on Saturday and then twice more this year and then at the end of year, really take stock at where he is as a young man and fighter who is coming into the peak of his physical capabilities.
"And if we get it right we should be considering everything in the first half of the year.
"I look at anyone in the bantamweight division and I can see Ryan giving them all hell. With another 10 months or so of maturing, understanding and repeating he should be able to give them even more problems."
Burnett will be defending his WBC International title against Ramirez, but neither the 24-year-old nor Booth have seen any footage of the Mexican.
However, Ramirez boasts a solid record with his two defeats coming against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr, who knocked Carl Frampton down in the first round when he challenged for the IBF super-bantamweight title last July, and Aaron Alameda who is 15-0.
But Booth believes the 10th fight with him in the corner will show just how well Burnett has developed and prove he is ready to move up a level by the end of the year.
"We are going in blind to this one because we've seen no footage of this guy," he said.
"I am sure he did that all the time as an amateur and even as a pro, but this is the first time he'll be doing that for a long time.
"Ryan now has to, in the opening moments of the fight, read what the other guy is going to do and that is what you have to do at the top level. All fighters come in with a game-plan but you don't know what they are, but you know he is a good fighter and you have to make those constant adjustments.
"It is a nice little challenge because we know nothing about this guy, except he's orthodox, and his record."
You can watch Burnett v Ramirez and Yafai v Wale on our live stream at skysports.com/boxing from 6pm, Saturday, with the main card from Leeds, live on Sky Sports 1, from 8.30pm.
