• Ricky Burns v Raymundo Beltran

Burns prepared for Beltran battle

ESPN staff
September 6, 2013
Ricky Burns paid a special visit to the Scotland national team ahead of his bout with Raymundo Beltran © PA Photos
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Ricky Burns knows he will have to deliver his "A-game" when he puts his WBO lightweight title on the line against Raymundo Beltran on Saturday.

Burns faces Beltran in Glasgow, the same city in which he retained his world title against Jose Gonzalez in May.

Things did not go according to plan that night, with Burns fortuitously taking victory after Gonzalez retired through injury in the ninth round; the previously-unbeaten Puerto Rican was ahead on points at the time of his withdrawal.

However, Burns is adamant he has shaken off the performance against Gonzalez and is more than ready for the anticipated brawl with Beltran.

"First, I need to win and then put on good performance, better than the last one," Burns said. "There will be times when I have to dig deep and stand my ground.

"You are not always going to get it your own way in fights. But a champion shows that he can dig in and that's what I did and got the win.

"[Jose] Gonzalez was very good. At one point, I felt my leg going a bit and that's when he pounced on me, had me on the ropes and was unloading on me.

"But I came back with my own punches. I have always said that if I am going out, I will go out swinging and, when I caught him in the seventh, that's when the crowd took the roof off.

"But you learn from those fights. With Beltran, I don't think I will have to go looking for him. He hasn't come over here for nothing and he has not been one of the chief sparring partners of Manny Pacquiao for nothing.

"I know I am going to have to bring my A-game. He likes to get involved in a bit of a war but that doesn't bother me."

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