Omar Figueroa Jr. vs. Ricky Burns Will Be One of PBC's Most Exciting Main Events
It would be a surprise if Omar "Panterita" Figueroa Jr. doesn't beat Ricky Burns on Saturday in Hidalgo, Texas, but it would be equally shocking if the fight is a bad one. It is the main event on Saturday's Premier Boxing Champions broadcast on CBS. Despite the fact that Figueroa missed weight on Friday, per ESPN.com's Dan Rafael, this fight could join the April 24 scrap between Anthony Dirrell and Badou Jack as one of the best main events thus far in the PBC series.
Neither Figueroa nor Burns backs down from a slugfest, and both have demonstrated toughness and resiliency in past fights. Figueroa had to battle through a stubborn and rugged Nihito Arakawa in July 2013 and a determined and well-prepared Jerry Belmontes in April 2014.
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Burns' list of tough fights is even more noteworthy. He fought through a broken jaw suffered in the second round against Raymundo Beltran in September 2013 and had legendary brawls with Roman Martinez in 2010 and Jose A. Gonzalez in 2013.
Stylistically, this one has all the makings of a spirited scrap. Burns is the taller, weaker puncher, but he's a little quicker than Figueroa. Panterita is always looking for the stoppage, but he's not that hard to hit. Burns will have his opportunities to establish offense, but he'll need to control the distance against an aggressive and dangerous opponent.
The motivation is there for both fighters. This is Figueroa's debut with PBC. He's a former lightweight champion, and the company has high hopes for him. He hasn't started off his tenure with PBC well by missing weight, but he could make people forget about that to a degree with an exciting performance.
Figueroa will want to be impressive in this nationally televised bout on free TV. He is also a Weslaco, Texas, native. Weslaco is located just about 24 miles away from Hidalgo. There will almost certainly be a large Figueroa contingent in the crowd. The 25-year-old will want to perform well for them.
The 32-year-old Burns is from Scotland and traveling a long way into his opponent's backyard. He isn't the type of fighter to take a bout strictly for a payday. If he's coming to Hidalgo, it's because he believes he can win. He too is a former lightweight champion, and that pedigree should show on Saturday.
He's also at a bit of a crossroads in his career. He's lost or has been the beneficiary of some questionable decisions and strange occurrences in each of his last four fights against quality opponents. He's coming off a win over Alexandre Lepelley in his 140-pound debut, but that was designed to be a confidence-building bout to usher him up to 140 pounds. The fight was only scheduled for eight rounds.
Burns will need to dig deep to win, but there's no questioning his heart. Boxing can certainly be unpredictable, but I expect to be entertained by this one.
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