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Today at 2:00 pm EST on AWE TV in the United States and Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, BLH will bring you live coverage of a card headlined by WBO lightweight titlist Ricky Burns defending his belt against undefeated young American Terence Crawford from Glasgow, Scotland.
U.S. viewers without AWE TV on their cable or satellite package can watch the fights live online at AWETV.com.
Burns (36-2-1, 11 KO) has had two fairly rough outings in a row against Chelo Gonzalez and Raymundo Beltran, and is now coming off of a layoff due to a broken jaw suffered in his debated draw against Beltran last September. The 30-year-old Scot has home field advantage, but many feel his days as a titleholder and top fighter in the division are numbered, and that Crawford (22-0, 16 KO) could be the man to end what has been a strong three-year run for Burns.
Crawford, 26, is taking a big step up in competition from the likes of Breidis Prescott, Alejandro Sanabria, and Andrey Klimov, however. Burns is the first top-level fighter he's faced to date, and there have certainly been more highly-regarded prospects exposed in the past by lesser fighters than Ricky Burns. On paper, this is a good matchup that depends a lot on Burns' health and potential rust levels, as well as whether or not the jaw injury may have made him a bit shy about taking punishment, as well as Crawford being as good as advertised or not.
Undercard Bouts
Rugged lightweight John Murray (32-2, 19 KO) is back in action against veteran John Simpson (25-10, 11 KO) in a fight that could steal the show in terms of action. This is Murray's first serious fight since his 2011 loss to Brandon Rios. ... 24-year-old lightweight prospect Scott Cardle (13-0, 2 KO) faces a step up in competition, perhaps, against Paul Appleby (19-5, 11 KO), a former British featherweight champion. ... 2012 Olympic stars Anthony Joshua (4-0, 4 KO) and Anthony Ogogo (4-0, 2 KO) return to action. Joshua will face Hector Alfredo Avila (22-15-1, 14 KO) in a six-round heavyweight bout that will not go six rounds, while Ogogo takes on Greg O'Neil (3-1, 1 KO).