RICKY BURNS admits he would be open to an all Scottish showdown with Josh Taylor – but he has his sights set on Mancunian Anthony Crolla.
Tartan Tornado Taylor called Burns out in the aftermath of his victory over Ohara Davies at the Braehead Arena on Saturday.
And the former WBA super-lightweight champion reckons the ball is Taylor’s court if they want to put a deal on the table to bring the Scottish stars together in the ring.
Burns said: “Like I said after the fight and I said to Barry (McGuigan), if they are serious about making an offer they have obviously got Eddie (Hearn’s) phone number.
“I have always said that I am in this game to fight anybody at all. That would be a big fight in Scotland.
“There have been a few names mentioned, which I believe would be bigger fights, but we will see what offer they come up with. I am open to any fight.”
Burns is plotting his next move in the ring following his unification defeat to Julius Indongo in front of a huge home crowd in Glasgow in April.
A bout with Crolla is on the cards as he looks to rebuild his career after losing his WBA lightweight crown to Jorge Linares last year.
And Burns believes that is a fight that would bring out supporters both north and south of the border as he plots his return to action in the coming months.
He said: “A few weeks ago that fight (Crolla) was offered to me and my immediate reaction was ‘let’s do it’. We were just waiting to get the reply back from Anthony and his team.
“Last week people got a hold of it on social media and the response that we got was unbelievable. This is a fight that the fans really want.
“The fight has been spoken about since we have both been at lightweight and it was mentioned when I was World Champion.
“Both of us are in the same position right now, both former World Champions looking for that big fight to get a high ranking again.
“So why not? Manchester or Glasgow, I am sure the fans would come out and show their support.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here