Coatbridge's 'Man of the World' eases past Laryea to retain his title
Ricky Burns staged his second defence of the WBO super-featherweight title with a fairly straightforward defence against Ghanaian Joseph Laryea in the Braehead Arena in Glasgow.
The African had put paid to an all Scottish world title fight when he beat Paul Appleby last year, which would have seen two Scots fighting for the WBO strap. All hypothetical though as Laryea upset the apple cart with his comprehensive defeat of the Edinburgh boxer. That was never featuring in Ricky Burns preparation for this defence of his well earned title though, as the very popular Coatbridge boxer has his feet very firmly planted on solid ground and had prepared thoroughly for this awkward, gangly opponent from Accra.
The usual fanfare of a world title fight heralded the top of the bill with Laryea almost doing a "Prince Naseem" entrance in terms of duration if not substance. Burns on the other hand merely smiled and got himself in the zone as he came in to a raucous and obviously partisan roar from his fans.
M.C. Mark Burdis is certainly no Michael Buffer, and one wonders who picks them, as Craig Stephen locally has lost more charisma when he had a haircut than this wooden puppet will ever have.
However, the bout itself opened with Burns using his boxing skills to keep clear of the wildly inaccurate swings which Laryea thinks will win him the fight. Yes they're heavy handed, but telegraphed and Burns is avoiding them with some ease while spearing out his jab and showing some useful combinations to both head and body.
His rights to the Ghanaian's head are catching him high up and are accurate enough to be scoring in any man's language. The second round is almost a reprise of the opener with Burns boxing and Laryea trying to cleaver Burns' head off with every shot. Yes the African is dangerous and obviously fit, but his tactics are based solely on him roughing the stylish boxer out of his stride, it isn't pretty from him and Burns is far and away the technician to the Ghanaian's raw endeavours.
Burns finishes off the third with a superb straight right to the midrift of the man from Accra. This obviously had a galvanising effect on Laryea as he does more work in the fourth and actually gets Burns on to the back foot with his aggressive style to either get a share or take the round depending on your bias. It's still wild stuff but on the basis of effort alone I'd have to give him this round. Billy Nelson addresses this with calmness at the end of the round and Burns is back in the fifth to what he does best, boxing this flailing whirlwind!
His combinations are definitely taking their toll on the Ghanaian, and by the sixth he doesn't look anything like as dangerous as he did earlier and especially the fourth round. Terry O'Connor gave Laryea a very private but no less stern warning for use of his elbow in this round, Laryea could have had another earlier for his use of the head too, but is fortunate not to have had it.
The seventh round has Laryea much less animated than the openers and the reality is he is "blowing" slightly probably due to the pace that Burns had set him and the cumulative effect of the accurate shots from the Scot. For fans of Burns it is comforting to see Laryea so laboured, but this comfort is turned to unconfined joy as his corner retire him on the stool at the end of the seventh citing an injury to his right hand.
It is unusual for Ghanaian's to pull out so I guess you need to put some credence to this assertion; I suspect though that he'd realised he wasn't going to beat Ricky either by boxing or indeed getting very lucky with one of his bombs. Cue joy unbridled from the Burns faithful, he could next be lining up some form of unification bout later this year and he deserves everything the sport can provide him as he's served his apprenticeship and warrants the rewards of a skilled tradesman.
