Tuesday 11 April 2017 23:37, UK
Ricky Burns is expecting a large and loud Glasgow crowd to see him home in his unification fight with Julius Indongo.
The Coatbridge fighter puts his WBA super-lightweight title on the line at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports.
Namibian Indongo is the IBF champion but is making his first title defence and only his second professional bout outside his home country, so 'Rickster' believes he will have a rude awakening when he walks out to his support.
"We are expecting a good crowd at the weekend, expecting it to be nice and noisy, too," he told Sky Sports News HQ.
"We'll see how the opponent is going to walk out to that Glasgow crowd.
"We have prepared for a hard 12 rounds so we know it is going to be difficult and we think he is going to be awkward in the start of the fight, but I've always said a fight's a fight.
I don't think he is going to be as big or as devastating a puncher as people think.
"I've always been in it for the big fights. I can't look beyond this one but the names that have been mentioned, if that does't give me more incentive, nothing is.
"It's the first unification fight in Scotland and these have been talked about throughout my career, at super-featherweight and lightweight and now we are just a few days away. I can't wait to get in there."
Burns says he will spend the opening rounds assessing unbeaten Indongo. The 'Blue Machine' picked up the title by knocking out Eduard Troyanovsky in just 40 seconds in May but Scotland's No 1 doubts he carries that much power.
"We've looked at his last fight; his first fight out of Namibia and knocked out the guy but it was 30 or 40 seconds and he obviously caught the champion cold and that could've happened to anyone," he said.
"People shouldn't read too much into that. I don't think he is going to be as big or as a devastating puncher as people think he is, but don't get me wrong, he will be awkward.
"In the first few rounds we will go out there and suss him out but preparation and sparring have gone better than expected against a southpaw, so I am really looking forward to it."
Watch Ricky Burns vs Julius Indongo from the SSE Hydro, Glasgow, on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports 2 from 7.30pm.
