Performance of his life required if Burns is to triumph in Texas

Not so much deep in the heart of Texas as deeper still into its tough crust, the former world super featherweight champion travels to the southern outpost of Hidalgo to face the ferocious Omar Figeuroa in a fight that will either kick-start or kill stone dead Burns' career.

Hidalgo wasn't always Hidalgo though. There was a time when it was something much closer to home for Burns. Perched on the northern side of the Rio Grand, the place was first known as Edinburgh, named in honour of the home town of the newly establish trading post's most prominent businessman.

That was Young. A Scot who strayed far from home in search of his fortune, the merchant pitched up in 1948, the year the bloody Mexican-American war ended in defeat for the land to the south. Young stood on the banks of a river that now formed the new border between the countries and saw opportunity. He set up a ferry across the waters to the much larger Mexican city of Reynosa and the trading post grew so quickly that it needed a name. The honour was Young's and Edinburgh was born.

It wasn't to live long, however. When Young passed away 11 years later, the town changed its name to Hidalgo, in tribute to Mexican war hero Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. A Scotsman being unceremoniously shunted to the side for an infinitely more popular Mexican? Fast forward 150 years and that's pretty much how a lot of observers expect tomorrow to go for Burns.

The modern-day town won't be all that more welcoming for the Coatbridge fighter. While another Edinburg (this time minus the h) did pop up in the early 1900s about 20 miles to the north, Hidalgo itself remains Mexican-American frontier heartland. Over 97 per cent of the town's population are hispanic or latino and the two huge bridges that now span the Rio Grande in place of Young's ferries make the border the fourth-busiest entry point into the United States.

Just over a kilometre from the heavily guarded crossing, on the outskirts of town, sitting in amongst the rolling sugar cane and cotton fields, is the imposing State Farm Arena, the sporting hub for the entire Rio Grande Valley.

Normally home to the Vipers, a team in the NBA's development leagues, it will be passionate and partisan tonight as upwards of 6500 will welcome one of their most favourite fighting sons back home. Figeuroa, a Mexican-American who, like Oscar De La Hoya before him finds his appeal is greater in the land of his heritage, hasn't fought in Texas in two years. This bout was originally pencilled in for San Antonio before the undefeated former lightweight world champion made things all the more daunting for Burns by bringing it smack bang to his back yard.

Tomorrow's encounter takes place exactly a week after the Fight of the Century but if the purses and parameters are a million miles removed from Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and the heaving hordes of Las Vegas, there are still strong links between the Burns' bout and the richest fight in the sport's history.

The Hidalgo show will be broadcast live nationally in the US on free-to-air network CBS as part of the newcomer Premier Boxing Champions series. The promotion, which has attracted a host of big boxing names to its stable and thus far doesn't involve any of the featured fighters competing for a world title belonging to any of the splintered governing bodies of boxing, is the mastermind of Al Haymon.

The mysterious figure pulling so many strings in the past two years, Haymon was heavily referenced by Mayweather in the build-up to and aftermath of last week's megafight. Mayweather's post-fight announcement that he would soon be relinquishing all five of his WBO, WBO and WBC belts led many to point to the influence of his advisor and puppetmaster-in-chief Haymon. A widely accepted theory is that once he does hang up his gloves, Mayweather will look to join Haymon in changing the very face of boxing by moving away from the pay-per-view networks, sidelining all of the traditional sanctioning organisations and becoming a de-factor central governing body, almost like the UFC model.

All that is for the future of course and Burns has much more pressing matters in the very present, however the prospect of being a part of such a potentially ground-breaking, money-making enterprise must surely have even fleetingly entered his mind.

To do so, though, he would have to put in the most unlikely and most perfect performance of his life. Figueroa is as short as 12-1 odds on for victory as he returns to his own patch intent on giving his home crowd plenty of bang for their buck.

Outside and inside the squared circle, the challenges are myriad. Figueroa has youth on his side, at 25 he is seven years younger than his visitor from across the Atlantic. He also has power on his side with 18 of his 24 career wins coming from knock-outs, putting Burns' proud record of never having been stopped in his career firmly on the line.

Like Burns, Figueroa will come forward into the fight, with flowing but frenzied attack his idea of defence. Looking for any concrete positives for the Scot has a panning for gold feel. Even the brief glimmer turns dull on closer examination. A slight height advantage should count for little as tonight marks Figueroa's first fight at 140lbs, having struggled recently to make 135, thus giving him a more natural balance. And then there's the Hidalgo factor.

"It's a great feeling knowing that I'll be fighting in front of my hometown and home area fans," said Figueroa. "I love the pressure my fans are going to be putting on me to win, whether it's consciously or subconsciously. It's all motivation for me. I just want to put on the best show possible."

For Burns, who has never fought further afield than London, Hidalgo and the rugged terrain of the Rio Grande Valley really do make for a journey into the unknown, quite literally a journey to the frontier. He will hope it is not the final one.