Ricky Burns suffered a broken jaw at the hands of Mexican Raymundo Beltran in their controversial draw at Glasgow’s SECC.
The Scot was fortunate to hold on to his WBO lightweight title as judges ringside scored the fight 115-112, 113-115, 114-114 – much to the dismay of Manny Pacquiao’s long-time sparring partner, Beltran.
The majority of spectators in the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre seemed to think Beltran had won the fight, after knocking Burns down in the eighth round, and as legendary MC Michael Buffer read out the scorecards, boo’s echoed around the arena.
The home fighter never looked comfortable and appeared to be in some distress as he continually tried to hold on to his opponent and didn’t seem to let his shots go.
At the end of the fight, Burns revealed he’d dislocated his jaw in the second round, which was later found to be a clean break.
“I don’t know how I got through that”, Burns admitted to Ed Robinson at ringside.
“I knew it was close… I was more worried about getting caught on the jaw again because when it was hitting the pain was unbelievable.”
Many fans and pundits alike will want to see the Mexican given a rematch and the champion seemed happy to oblige. However, his promoter Eddie Hearn did not seem as enthusiastic.
“Morally, a rematch would be the right thing,” Hearn admitted. “Politically, financially, will it?… My gut feeling is no.”
Burns has since had surgery on his jaw, having a metal plate inserted and Hearn admitted there is no guarantee the Scot will even fight again. So for now, it is just a waiting game.