Burnett had a freakish reaction to freak injury – ready to bounce back tonight

Ryan Burnett has a freakishly positive attitude toward the freak the injury that resulted in the worst moment of his career.

The Belfast fighter lost his 0, his place in the lucrative World Boxing Super Series and his WBA bantamweight world title when an out of nowhere oblique injury forced him to pull out during his November clash with Nonito Donaire.

It looked a real career low point for a fighter who had overcome his fair share of struggles to eventually get to world level.

However, Burnett claims he never dwelt on the negatives, indeed he claims he somehow turned an incident that still upsets his supporters into a positive.

Speaking ahead of his sooner than expected return against Filipino Jelbirt Gomera at the Ulster Hall tonight, the Top Rank fighter revealed,

“In my life, I’ve been through a lot and it’s given me the right mentality to look at what’s happened in a positive way.

“I could have dwelt too long on losing my world title, my unbeaten record and my exit from the World Boxing Super Series but boxing is so unpredictable and you have to take what comes.

“As soon as it happened, I was able to push it to the side and ask myself what was next. The first goal was to become healthy again and I did that. Then I had to get fit again and I did that. Now I’ve got a fight and my injury is completely healed.

“There’s no point in looking back at what happened because it’ll bring me down so I’ve used it as a learning experience. It’s all part of the story. I used the time wisely and enjoyed being at home.”

The injury temporally denied Burnett the chance to unify again, beat the other big names in the division, and cement his status as an all-time Irish great.

Right up and until the fourth round of his clash with the ‘Filipino Flash’ the Belfast puncher was riding the crest of a wave, but the fighter doesn’t rue injury preventing his progress, rather he see’s it as a wake up call of sorts that will only help maintain his focus moving forward.

“Sometimes, you need a bit of a shake to wake you up. I become world champion, unified the division and beat my mandatory challenger. It was all hunky-dory. Then life gave me a shake and woke me up. That’s how I look at it.”