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Burns surrenders belt to face Katsidis

Ricky Burns found it too much of a struggle to make the 130lb limit © PA Photos

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Scottish fighter Ricky Burns has surrendered the WBO super-featherweight belt in order to move up to the lightweight division.

Burns took the decision due to the struggle he faced to sneak inside the 130lb super-featherweight limit, which he felt was putting his career under threat.

"It was a hard decision to vacate my title but it was the right time to do it and it was in my best interests," he said. "Super-featherweight was draining the strength out of me. It was getting harder and harder to make the weight.

"It's only five pounds of a difference but it makes a big difference. I was constantly worrying about what I was eating and the dieting was so strict. I was getting dehydrated boiling down to lose the last two or three pounds.

"And in doing that I was getting tired but I couldn't take a day off. Now that weight is no longer an issue I can take a day off if I need to and now I can enjoy boxing. I have started changing the way I have been training, working on my upper body and legs and I will be so much stronger."

Burns will now face Michael Katsidis, who ended Kevin Mitchell's unbeaten record at Upton Park during 2010, for the WBO interim lightweight title on November 5. "I have just moved up to lightweight and I couldn't have got a more difficult fight if I had tried," he said.

"But this is a great chance for me, it is a great incentive to be fighting for a title right away - what more could you ask for? I will be preparing for 12 hard rounds.

"Michael is a great fighter. He has had a few defeats but that was against the best in the division and you could see how good he was with the way he beat Graham Earl and Kevin Mitchell.

"So this will be the toughest fight of my career and people can expect fireworks. You know what you are getting with Michael, he comes to fight and he is never involved in a dull fight."

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