Using superior hand speed, footwork, and countless lead straight rights, Ryan Burnett unexpectedly outclassed Lee Haskins today in Northern Ireland. Haskins did injure his right shoulder in a sixth round sequence that saw him dropped to his knee, but Burnett was already dominating the fight up to that point and it just seemed to seal the deal rather than cause an unsatisfactory conclusion.
The international boxing community seems to have really been sleeping on new Northern Irish IBF bantamweight titlist Ryan Burnett (17-0, 9 KOs). The perception of this contest largely seemed to be that a somewhat weak titlist in Lee Haskins (34-4, 14 KOs) had found himself in against a regional draw that should allow him to make some money and make a routine, successful defense.
That could not have been further from the truth. Ryan Burnett dominated this fight from start to finish. Using a hands down, athletic style that could be described as Sergio Martinez-lite, Burnett bounced in and out, landing his right hand whenever he wanted to. Haskins was dropped to a knee in the sixth in a sequence in which he was both hurt by real shots and managed to injure his right arm, but otherwise he took the beating gamely on his feet without ever giving up until the eleventh.
In the penultimate round, a sequence of right hands had Haskins down again. Balance issues seemed to play into the knockdown, but clean shots were landed and it was a real knockdown. Haskins bravely looked to counter Burnett with big lefts in the twelfth on the hope that Burnett would be reckless looking for a finish, but the dream shot did not manifest itself for the now former titlist.
The arm injury definitely hurt Haskins’s chances for a second half comeback, but to be frank he didn’t really do much worse with one arm than two. He was clearly outclassed before things went wrong for the arm and the fight didn’t really change in tone afterward. I do hope we are not forced a rematch on the basis of the disadvantage as it is difficult to see these two putting on a fight that goes any other way. Both fighters suffered cuts from headbutts along the way, but they didn’t really play into the fight.
As always in Belfast, the crowd was great fun and provided a great atmosphere for the telecast. Now that they have a promising new titlist to call their own, I anticipate a few more bigger Belfast cards coming down the pipeline.
The cards came back a split decision. US judge Clark Sammartino turned in one of the worst cards in boxing history for Lee Haskins. I am not exaggerating. The only possible explanation is that he had who the fighters were reversed. An embarrassing explanation, for sure, but not as bad as actually believing Lee Haskins won ten rounds. Thankfully, this is why we use three judges and the other two got it right.
On the undercard, Northern Irish lightweight prospect Paul Hyland Jr (16-0, 6 KOs) and Ireland based, Cuban former heavyweight contender Mike Perez (22-2-1, 14 KOs) won via quick first round debuts. This was Perez’s cruiserweight debut as he attempts to essentially reboot his once promising career.
