After four years and 10 world title fights, Ricky Burns is a champion no more. That is not to say he did not fight like one – he is incapable of giving less than his all – but the unbeaten visitor from Nebraska, Terence Crawford, proved to be every bit as good in the flesh as his advance publicity had claimed – he is distantly related to Joe Louis – and he goes home with the WBO's lightweight title.
The officials saw it Crawford's way by margins of 116-112, 117-111, and 116-112. From this vantage point, that required considerable generosity to be pointed in Burns's direction. I could do no more than give him a share of two rounds. "I'm lost for words," said the American, who had never boxed outside his own country as pro, and had never been 12 rounds before. "I'm happy, yeah, I've got that belt."
Burns, bruised, cut but unbowed, said: "He was a tricky fighter, very awkward. I found it hard to get my shots off. The best man won tonight, but I'll be back."
Boxing with a titanium plate in his recently mended jaw – legacy of the horrific night he endured in his last defence, a contentious draw last September against Raymundo Beltrán – the champion, billed as the Man of Steel, was systematically broken down by a very fine boxer indeed, unbeaten now in 23 fights.
Crawford, a whippy left-hooker and smooth mover, settled into an early rhythm, but Burns kept his shape behind a stiff double jab that jolted the American's head back.
Burns might have stolen a share of the honours in an inactive round with a couple of stiff right hands from distance, rare parity.
Two counter-punchers stepping on each other's toes can make for a disjointed contest, and there was a lot of exploratory feinting and ugly lunging in the early exchanges, but Crawford shaded the third with a sharp jab and an effective southpaw right counter to the body that kept Burns off balance.
Crawford had Burns in a spot of bother in the fourth as he let his punches go freely for the first time, and the champion was struggling to fathom his opponent's slick movement.
Burns was taking too long to get his punches off and his opponent was happy to fill in the gaps, working around his elbows to the rib cage as he repeatedly forced him to the ropes. When he marched him across the ring at the end of the fifth with a flurry of head shots, he looked comfortably in control.
Past halfway, the capacity Glasgow crowd of 10,000 that had raised the roof when the fighters entered the ring were reduced to fits of whistles and the odd cheer, but there was a growing sense that this was not going to be a good night for their man.
There was brief excitement at the start of the ninth when Burns caught Crawford cleanly, but not with enough weight to still his advances.
They swapped smiles and pleasantries before the final round but that was as nice as it got for Burns, who had to soak up another horrendous collection of head-shots on the ropes. He needed a knockout, but not his own, yet that did not deter him from joining battle down to the final seconds, as futile as the effort plainly was.
A quirk of scheduling had earlier pitted two British Olympic gold medallists against foreign opposition of diverse skill at about the same time on rival television stations, surely a first. That must have got the zappers twitching between Channel 5 and Bristol – where James DeGale had to beat Gevorg Khatchikian to keep his world super-middleweight title aspirations on track – and Sky and Glasgow – featuring Anthony Joshua's fifth outing.
The big man from London took 124 seconds to soften up and then topple the bewildered Argentinian Hector Alfredo Avila (who somehow lasted nine rounds against Dereck Chisora), and the visitor seemed wary of touching gloves afterwards, lest he ship further pain. Joshua is good enough to fight for the British title right now. Meanwhile, he fights again in Manchester on 19 April against a victim to be selected.
DeGale had the tougher assignment – he was cut early and reports say he boxed well within himself against an outclassed opponent for a stoppage in the 11th round. His plans to challenge the WBC 12st champion Sakio Bika later this year were complicated on Friday night in Verona, New York, when Badou Jack, whom he was scheduled to meet in a final eliminator, was dropped twice in the first round and shunted from the title picture by a 34- year-old trier from North Carolina, Derek Edwards – who might now inherit that date.
The British lightweight scene, meanwhile, is packed with a variety of quality performers, following different routes. Earlier, the former amateur star Scott Cardle confirmed he is moving in the right direction as a pro when he committed to what he described earlier as "massive step up" against Paul Appleby. It wasn't quite that but it was a good match, and Cardle survived the eager Scot's heavy-handed assaults with slick head movement to conclude his 14th paid fight with a right hook in the eighth that dumped the game South Queensferry fighter heavily on his backside.
The Mancunian John Murray made short and merciful work of his 10-rounder against Greenock's John Simpson (who stopped Appleby in six here two years ago), felling the 30-year-old three times in the second with body shots to force a stoppage.
For Appleby, 26, and Simpson the future looks as variable as the weather; Cardle and Murray have much to look forward to – even each other. Burns?
