WBO Lightweight champion Ricky Burns will defend his title against mandatory challenger Terence Crawford in Scotland this February according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.
“I’m delighted to bring this fight to Scotland. We tried hard to make the [Raymundo] Beltran rematch but Crawford is the mandatory and Ricky is happy to accept the challenge,” said Burns promoter Eddie Hearn told ESPN.com on Sunday. “It’s perhaps the toughest test Ricky has faced so far. There seems to be plenty of hype around Crawford, so let’s see how he gets on trying to take Ricky’s title in his backyard.”
“Eddie finally made us an offer, a scenario, to do the fight in Scotland on Feb. 8 or Feb. 22 on his show, and we worked out the financial package for us and for Crawford,” said Top Rank’s Carl Moretti. “I called [Crawford’s manager] Cameron [Dunkin] and he liked it and was closing a deal with Crawford, so we’ll travel there and fight for the title.”
Moretti said he got Hearn to agree on neutral officials to be appointed by the WBO.
“It was one of the things I insisted on and he agreed, and the WBO is OK with it also,” Moretti said.
“I could have put here [in the United States] if we won the purse bid, but Eddie made us an offer we were comfortable with,” Moretti said. “Hopefully, Terence will win the fight and his first defense can be in the United States on HBO.”
