Ricky Burns has joined a star-studded list of boxing’s triple-champions that includes some of the sport’s all-time legends.
World titles in three weight divisions have been achieved by Roberto Duran, Roy Jones Jr, Sugar Ray Leonard among plenty more - but only four fighters have claimed an identical hat-trick to Burns' record at super-featherweight (130lbs), lightweight (135lbs) and super-lightweight (140lbs).
You might have heard of them…
Hector Camacho
The Puerto Rican sensation, as wild inside the ring as he was outside, is no longer here to see Burns join the exclusive list of triple champions that he helped originate in 1989.
Camacho's record is laden with a who's who of boxing history and it requires delving into his deepest past to remember the three world titles from 130lbs to 140lbs. His first world title win, at super-featherweight, was also his first bout on home soil after 21 victories in the United States.
'Macho' won WBC gold against Rafael Limon in 1983 but only defended it once before targeting lightweight. Two years later, he beat Jose Luis Ramirez for a second WBC in two weight divisions before registering a win over a certain Freddie Roach.
In his 34th unbeaten outing, Camacho handled Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini to become the inaugural WBO super-lightweight champion, completing his trio of titles. He would later lose to fellow legend Chavez then fail to take welterweight prizes from Felix Trinidad and De La Hoya. Yet still 'Macho' climbed the weight classes, beating Duran twice as a middleweight.
Julio Cesar Chavez
When listing the remarkable achievements of this Mexican legend, three world titles across weight divisions is a mere footnote to his true legacy. Chavez, from a different era and a different breed of fighter altogether, took 63 fights to complete the same hat-trick as Burns but inexplicably found time for another 52 bouts before retiring.
He holds the all-time record for the longest winning streak in boxing, spanning 13 years, and he was 89-0-1 when he finally lost to Frankie Randall. But years earlier, in just his fifth fight outside of Mexico in 43 wins, he won the WBC super-featherweight title from Mario Martinez to kick-start his unique career. From there, Chavez broke world records for the most successful consecutive defences of world titles (27), most title fights (37), most title-fight victories (31).
A win against Roger Mayweather, Floyd's uncle, was a super-featherweight highlight before Chavez won WBA lightweight gold from Edwin Rosario in his 57th fight. He would add the WBC version to his collection before a rematch with Mayweather prompted Chavez to step up to super-lightweight, his third weight division. A second stoppage victory handed Chavez his hat-trick of belts but he will be truly remembered as one of the greatest to ever strap on a pair of gloves.
Oscar De La Hoya
The 'Golden Boy' won world titles in six weight divisions spanning 30lbs, but matched Burns' tally of winning at super-featherweight, lightweight and super-lightweight. He would go on to add welterweight, light-middleweight and middleweight gold to originate an even more exclusive club that only Manny Pacquiao has joined since.
De La Hoya's first world title, like Burns', was at 130lbs. In just his 12th professional fight, aged 20, the future pound-for-pound supremo stopped Jimmy Bredahl to win the WBO super-featherweight belt which he defended once before vacating. His next outing was for the WBO's lightweight prize and De La Hoya stopped 63-fight veteran Jorge Paez. By the age of 21, with 14 fights under his belt, the Californian had already reached the top of two weight classes.
He defended his lightweight gold six times, adding the IBF belt from Rafael Ruelas along the way. After 21 perfect results and three world titles on his mantelpiece, De La Hoya stepped up again to challenge Julio Cesar Chavez at 140lbs. A fourth-round knockout in Las Vegas earned De La Hoya his biggest win to date, and the WBC super-lightweight title, before he also won a rematch.
After setting the tone for Burns' future hat-trick by the age of 23, the good times rolled on and De La Hoya doubled his tally to six conquered weight divisions. Losses to Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins would follow, before he was nudged towards the retirement home by Floyd Mayweather and Pacquiao.
Floyd Mayweather
As De La Hoya was establishing himself as the world's finest, a young pretender from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was quietly stringing together a 17-fight winning streak that led to a low-profile world title shot.
Mayweather, aged 21, forced Genaro Hernandez to retire before the eighth round and captured the WBC super-featherweight title in the process. It would be the first of many, and by far the quietest, world championship fights that Mayweather would have in Las Vegas.
Eight defences were racked up in the next three years, including a stoppage of Diego Corrales, before Mayweather stepped up to 135lbs for his toughest test to date. Jose Luis Castillo lost his WBC lightweight gold to the fleet-of-foot and cautious Mayweather, who danced rings around him for 24 rounds including a rematch. After seven stoppages in his last nine wins, the Castillo fights were the birth of the defensively-sound Mayweather who dominated judges' score-cards.
Thirty-three unbeaten and with his 'Pretty Boy' moniker rubbing critics up the wrong way, Mayweather handed out a one-sided six-round whipping to Arturo Gatti to win the WBC super-lightweight title. The hat-trick of belts that Burns has now replicated was achieved by 2005 and Mayweather, over the next decade, would win world titles in two further weight divisions before retiring unbeaten and very, very rich.