Ryan Burnett cools World title talk

Ryan Burnett was made to work on Saturday night against Cesar Ramirez in Leeds.

The Belfast bantamweight outpointed the rangey Mexican to retain his ranking-enhancing WBC International belt at the First Direct Arena.

Ramirez was game and awkward throughout and Burnett told IFL TV afterwards that “I was expecting a tough fight.”

“The Mexicans, they don’t come easy.”

“He had a good record and he’d only been beat by top level opponents.”

“It was good to get the ten rounds in. He was awkward, he was tall.”

“Tall and awkward fighters, they can easily make you look messy.”

“It was good experience for me and I’m happy to have it under my belt,” he stated before distancing himself from World title talk.

A lot of the talk in the lead-up had been about how this was the first of three fights for Burnett before a World title shot in Belfast early next year, but the Youth Olympic gold medalist was reluctant to look too far ahead.

The 24 year old explained that “to be honest, I don’t think like that at all.”

“I just turn up at the gym and work hard. It’s down to the team [to choose] what the next step is.”

“There’s a lot of people saying that Ryan is ready for a World title shot and this and that, but to be honest I’m not listening to it”

Watch Ryan Burnett’s interview with IFL TV in full below:

Photo Credit: The Fighting Irish – (@ThefIrish)