Ryan Burnett wants to become Irish Boxing GOAT

Irish boxing star Ryan Burnett is on the path of becoming an Irish boxing GOAT if he continues his illustrious career. At just 25 years old the Irishman is on the verge of unifying the bantamweight division.

Burnett is the current IBF bantamweight world champion and will face Zhanat Zhakiyanov who holds the WBA belt. The fight will take place on the 21st of October in Belfast Odyssey Arena and Burnett is the bookie’s favorites according to Ace Betting Sites. It is going to be the first time that a contest to unify world titles has occurred on Irish soil and the young boxer will greatly benefit from the home support.

If Burnett beats Zhakiyanov he will become only the second boxer in Irish history to become an undisputed champion of a single weight-class. The last time it was achieved was by Carl Frampton who is also from Belfast. If Burnett unifies the belts in the 118 lb division it will definitely put him up there with the greatest Irish boxers of all time. The boxer could have chosen an easier route by fighting Emmanuel Rodriguez the IBF mandatory challenger because he is determined to become a GOAT.

It is going to be a very tough test for Burnett to prove he is one of the best ever as he is up against Kazakh who has only lost once in 27 fights. Both boxers used to train at the same gym when they were both trained by Ricky Hatton. Burnett is now trained by Adam Booth who has managed to take him to the next level which showed in his performance to win the IBF belt against Lee Haskins from the UK.

It has taken a while for Burnett to get the recognition that he deserves partly due to having most of his boxing matches in the UK. With a 17 – 0 record though he is starting to get the spotlight he deserves and if he unifies the division it will take him to the next level. It is going to be a huge night of boxing in Irish history once the 21st of October arrives. The spotlight from the success of MMA world star Conor McGregor has brought lots of attention to combat sports in Ireland and there has never been a better time. Burnett may not get the stardom that his the Notorious one does but he will still go down as one of the greats if he beats Kazakh.

There are a number of rising Irish boxing stars on the undercard including Paul Hyland Jr and James Tennyson from Belfast and Stephen Ormond from Dublin. The most promising talent coming through the ranks is hometown boxer, Tyrone McKenna. He will fight Tommy Coyle from the UK and big things are expected from the young Irishman. His record is an impressive 14-0-1 and he will get the chance to prove he is ready for the next step by beating Coyle.