WBSS final Prograis-Taylor: Lee Selby relishing chance to face Ricky Burns in lightweight showdown
Monday 9 September 2019 17:38, UK
Lee Selby is looking forward to returning to The O2 when he takes on former three-weight world champion Ricky Burns.
Selby will test himself against Burns in a lightweight clash on the undercard of Regis Prograis-Josh Taylor at The O2 on October 26, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
"The O2 has been great to me, I've boxed there more than any venue. I won the Lonsdale belt outright there," said Selby.
"I won and defended the world title and now I'm back there on October 26. Now I've got a tough opponent in front of me. Ricky Burns is a former three-weight world champion.
"To win a world title and defend it once, you've got to be a great fighter. To do it twice, you've got to be brilliant. To do it in three different weight, you're elite. So, I've got the utmost respect for Ricky Burns.
"We shared the ring back in 2014, he got me in for sparring ahead of his Terrence Crawford fight and from what I can remember it was great sparring. It was really competitive, it was up and down and after each spar everybody stood and gave us a standing ovation.
"So if the sparring is anything to go by, we're in for a treat."
Selby moved up two weight divisions after losing his IBF world featherweight title to Josh Warrington in 2018, but the Welshman believes it was a blessing in disguise.
"Obviously it was upsetting but it's like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I can fight at a more comfortable weight, I'm happy in the gym and I'm feeling good," he added.
Burns will return to action after almost a year away from the ring when he takes on fellow former world champion Selby.
"Finally I've got one over the line," said Burns. "It's been a frustrating year for me, a couple of fights have been spoken about but fell through. Obviously, my last fight was November so we pulled it out of the bag with this one.
"I know I've got a tough fight, as Lee said, we've sparred before.
"On the night the best man will win but I just feel I'm going out there to do a job. Training has been going well so far and I can't wait."
