In a British domestic super fight that just made too much sense not to happen, former world titlists Ricky Burns and Anthony Crolla will try to earn their way back to title contention against one another on October 7th. The fight will be contested at 135 lbs, which is a bit of a surprise considering Ricky Burns has not fought at that weight in over three years. This should be a fairly big money fight in the UK.
Ricky Burns (41-6-1, 14 KOs) is a three division world titlist, for what that is worth. His best wins were over Rocky Martinez, Michael Katsidis, and Kevin Mitchell. I also thought he beat Omar Figueroa, but then again I thought he even more clearly lost to Ray Beltran and Kyril Relikh. I guess he is plus one there. Burns has always been a good fighter, a real good one on his best days, but never a great one. He has had very generous circumstances to win his three titles. Burns is also very unlikely to win at a high level at junior welterweight, so dropping back down to lightweight here for this winnable money fight makes sense assuming he believes he can still make the weight.
Anthony Crolla (31-6-3, 13 KOs) will have homefield advantage here in Manchester. He won his belt in an unlikely mid career run in 2015. It took two tries against Darleys Perez after their first fight ended in a draw, but Crolla pulled it off. He defended it once before losing the belt to the much more talented Jorge Linares. Crolla exceeded expectations just enough in that first fight to earn a rematch, but he was soundly defeated there in his last time out.
Both fighters will be coming off a wide, spring loss and both will very much be in need of this win. This is a really great fight for the British audience and a good one for everyone else too. It will take place at the Manchester Arena and Sky Sports will have the call.
