Ricky Burns appeared embarrassed yesterday when his promoter, Eddie Hearn, labelled him as potentially the greatest Scottish boxer of all time.
The notoriously shy world lightweight champion attempted to hide his obvious discomfort behind a sheepish smile that caused a ripple of amusement at the traditional pre-fight head-to-head when Burns and the challenger for his WBO crown, the Mexican Raymundo Beltran, came together for the first time.
"If Ricky beats Beltran it will cement him as the greatest Scottish boxer of all time," insisted Hearn. "And I say that having studied [Benny] Lynch and [Ken] Buchanan's records and taken into account the fact that they are in the Hall of Fame.
"Ricky's already a great fighter with no frills or false personality. He is a pure fighter who doesn't require any hype."
Burns' manager, Alex Morrison, looked slightly ill-at-ease on hearing the 30-year-old from Coatbridge described in such a way. "I wouldn't say that Ricky is the greatest ever because I don't think you can," he said. "How can you compare fighters from different generations? I wouldn't say that Ricky's the best lightweight in the world either. What I would say is that he is as good as anyone out there."
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