Eddie Hearn hoping to finally see the “real” Ryan Burnett

Adam Booth will have to let Ryan Burnett off the leash if the Belfast fighter is to fetch a world title on June 10th according to promoter Eddie Hearn.

2010 Youth Olympic gold medalist Burnett brings world championship boxing back to the current capital of Irish boxing on a Sky Sports-broadcast Matchroom-promoted show at the SSE Odyssey Arena next month.

If he is to defeat champion Lee Haskins and claim the IBF bantamweight title on what could be the start of a exiting phase of the 24 year old’s career, Burnett can’t be held back any more argues Hearn.

The Matchroom boss is somewhat in the dark regarding Burnett’s full capabilities and is not only keen to see the 24 year old produce the kind of display Adam Booth promises he has in his locker, but also claims a full throttle Burnett is needed to defeat the experienced belt holder from Bristol.

“He has to be let off the leash for this fight though or he won’t win,” Hearn said in Belfast today. 

“I feel like he has been held back on a leash a bit. I think this as an opportunity to get a full look at the real Ryan Burnett.”

“The Farrag win was impressive, a couple of the other wins were rather routine. Adam has said in a quote ‘now I can let him off the leash’ and that means you have not really seen the real Ryan Burnett.”

“Now there is sometimes a gym fighter who is not a fight night fighter. Burnett now has to do it in the bright lights and we don’t know whether he can.”

“Adam believes he can but, if he can’t, he won’t beat Lee Haskins. If he can’t, Haskin will old man him, frustrate him, potshot him, but I really think there are so many different levels to Ryan Burnett.”

Having the collar loosened by a coach, who also trains Limerick middleweight Andy Lee, is not the only thing that will inspire the British champion suggest the English promoter.

Hearn believes the Belfast Boy will feed off the crowd as he tops a bill for the first time and indicated Irish fight fans will have a massive part to play.

“Fighting in front of your home crowd makes the difference. Don’t forget, he has been coming out to fight in front of a load of English men who aren’t bothered, when you actually have people behind you get a difference performance and I think you will see that in this case.”

Hearn, who talked of building a long term relationship with Belfast fight fans and returning regularly, has previously called for Burnett to add some razzmatazz to his recent performances, but claims Booth is one coach who he can’t influence in terms of making a fighter look good for the cameras.

After nine knock outs in his first 11 fights, the Belfast fighter has gone the distance in his five fights under Matchroom. There is a general consensus that the ‘fight within yourself and bank rounds’ ploy was a Booth order, something which Hearn agrees with, and the 37 year old seems genuinely excited to see a new approach in place against Haskins on June 10th.

“Adam won’t put on a performance to suit me as a promoter or TV. He gets a fighter to perform at a level where his fighter will improve and get a lot out of a fight.”

“I might be sitting there thinking after five or six rounds were he looked incredible ‘go on then get him out,’ but Adam would hold him back not wanting anything silly and wanting him to use rounds to learn.”

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Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill on Episode 4 of The Irish Boxing Show