Ricky Burns wants Terence Crawford and Dejan Zlaticanin rematches
Wednesday 15 June 2016 21:24, UK
WBA world super-lightweight champion Ricky Burns is chasing rematches with Terence Crawford and Dejan Zlaticanin.
The popular 'Rickster' (40-5-1-KO14) became the first Scot to win world titles in three weight divisions in April when he stopped Michele di Rocco and is now assessing a host of options at both 135lbs and 140lbs.
Burns suffered consecutive defeats in Glasgow two years ago, losing his WBO lightweight crown to Crawford (28-0-KO20) via unanimous decision and then suffering a split decision reverse to Zlaticanin (22-0-KO15), who has subsequently become Montenegro's first world champion.
After watching Zlaticanin win, I was straight on the phone to my management team.
Burns exclusively told Sky Sports: "If I'm staying at super-lightweight, then the biggest name is Terence Crawford. I fancy him to get the job done in the unification fight against Viktor Postol. What a fight that would be. If I'm going to go back to lightweight then it'd be the rematch with Zlaticanin.
"Eddie Hearn says September or October back in Glasgow and there's also talk of going back out to the States again. I'm willing to stay at super-lightweight but I can do lightweight as well and if there's a big fight there then I'll drop down.
"I said before the Di Rocco fight that if I won, it would open up so many more options for me at both weights so we'll wait and see what they come up with.
"After watching Zlaticanin win, I was straight on the phone to my management team to ask if they'd seen it and telling them to get on the phone to Eddie and seeing what the chances of making that fight would be. I'd love to fight him again.
"It would be a totally different outcome but fair play to him - he's got a couple of big wins and he's got that world title. I'd be more than happy to fight him again.
"Crawford is another name to mention. He's got a unification fight coming up against Postol. Eddie also mentioned Adrien Broner after the Di Rocco fight but I think he's moved back up to welterweight, which would be one step up too far for me.
"I was surprised to see John Molina get the job done against Ruslan Provodnikov but fair play to him because he went out there, stuck to the tactics and got to the win. If that fight were to happen, I'm sure it would be a hard night's work but I'd be confident.
"If you look at Provodnikov's record, too, the times he's lost have been to world-class fighters. That's down to his style as well. I saw he said before facing Molina he'd like a fight with me and he keeps coming at you. It'd be good to watch but for me, I'd just keep hitting him and he'd keep walking forward."
After a lengthy training camp ended in a 46th professional bout yielding an historic victory, Burns would have been forgiven for granting himself some time off to indulge.
But he joked: "I ended up in the gym the Monday morning after the fight because I'd eaten too many cakes and my stomach wasn't coping very well!
"I've been ticking over. I never let myself go too much because if I keep training, I can eat more.
"I'm always saying that when I stop boxing I'm going to stay in the gym because I like eating too much. If I wasn't in the gym, I'd end up the size of a house! If I'm running and punching every now and again, it means I can keep eating."
