Roman Martinez vs Ricky Burns

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In a televised international bout in Glasgow, Scotland, which was close, Ricky Burns won a unanimous decision over previously undefeated 'Rocky' Roman Martinez to win the WBO super featherweight title. Burns, 29-2, of Glasgow, was downed by a straight right in the first round by an aggressive Martinez, who scored a 10-8 round but who failed to put the fight away. Burns got up without problem and went on to land a great many power shots which backing up Martinez throughout, and leaned on Martinez' back and behind the head whenever Martinez got too close. Martinez countered with singularly placed left and right hand leads to the head and the body which scored on occasion, and landed a number of well placed right uppercuts which got under and through the upraised gloves of Burns defense and rattled Burn's cage at times, but Burns was never in trouble. Burns staggered Martinez with power shots to the head, swelling the face of Martinez over the last few rounds, and staggered him in the twelfth and final round to win the round and the bout outright. The scoring appeared fair and was not a hometown decision. If Martinez had won only two more rounds on two judge's scorecards, the bout would have been scored a majority draw. Burns appeared unmarked after the bout. Martinez, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, fell to 29-1-1. It was noted that the Ring Magazine world rankings at the time of this bout had The Ring World Super Featherweight Championship slot position vacant, with Mzonke Fana of South Africa at #1, Roman Martinez at #2, and Ricky Burns (set to rise) unranked. Former WBO super featherweight champion Alex Arthur, Edinburgh, Scotland, who lost the title in 2008 to Nicky Cook, fought on the undercard and was mentioned as a possible future opponent for Burns.