Saturday, 10 March 2012

Moses in Braehead Burns Night


Ricky Burns is looking forward to his rousing homecoming when he takes on Paulus Moses of Namibia on Saturday night.

The Scot has fought outside his home country for the past 12 months but returns to Glasgow to defend his WBO lightweight title.

The 6,000-capacity venue is sold out to see the fighter from Coatbridge and he promised not to disappoint his loyal fans.

"My weight was perfect so now it's roll on tomorrow," he said at the weigh-in. "I can't wait for it.

"It's going to be an amazing atmosphere in the Braehead Arena with every seat sold for my homecoming.

"I've got to do the business in the ring now with all these fans coming to see me in action.

"Moses is a tough tough fighter and I've not under-estimated him and the fans are in for a really good fight."
Training

His opponent holds a stellar record of 28 wins with just one loss, and Moses - like Burns - revealed he has not studied his opponent before the fight.

"I have never seen him fight and I haven't watched him on DVD either," said the 33-year-old. "We will see each other in action on Saturday.

"I don't look at my opponent, that is my coach's job. I just train to win. The preparation has been good and now we are looking forward to the fight.

"If you look at my record, all of my opponents have been tough. Ricky is a world champion so he will be tough. But everything is good. I have trained to win - I don't train to lose."

Promoter Frank Warren believes the capacity crowd will be a big advantage for Burns.

"If you are losing a fight, if you feel that it is slipping away from you, the fans can lift you," he said.

"You have to respect what this guy done, he has gone to Japan and won in the past. So I don't think he will be fazed by the crowd but I think it will lift Ricky."

But Moses countered: "The big crowd is not a problem. I like people to support boxing.

"I know Scotland will support Ricky because he is their boy but some of them will start supporting me, I will impress them."