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Ryan Burnett is on course to have home advantage in a blockbuster unification clash with WBO bantamweight champion Zolani Tete, in March, if he overcomes legend Nonito Donaire in Glasgow tomorrow night.
WBA World champion Burnett meets former world champion Donaire in the final quarter-final of the exciting World Boxing Super Series with the winner going on to face Tete. Sources close to the WBSS confirmed that Belfast’s SSE Arena is on hold for March 9.
While Belfast is not set in stone as the venue for the mouth-watering semi-final, it is understood that all parties would be keen for the fight to happen in Burnett’s home city.
Indeed, champion Tete has stated: “I want to face Burnett in Belfast, I want to beat him in front of his own fans.”
Burnett against South African Tete would be one of the biggest fights to ever come to Belfast, with the 26-year-old WBA title holder having the opportunity to once again unify two belts – just as he did last year when defeating Zhanat Zhakiyanov to annex the WBA to the IBF title.
Burnett, who has since vacated the IBF title, insists his sole focus is on hard-hitting Donaire but admits the WBSS does give him the opportunity to be recognised as the undisputed bantamweight kingpin.
“The bantamweight division is flying at the moment, this is a massive opportunity for me. This is the best against the best, the elite in the division and this is the kind of competition that I have always wanted,” said Burnett.
“By the end of this series you’re going to know who is the number one bantamweight in the world and that’s going to be Ryan Burnett. The World series has been great for boxing, it has created a lot of interest and everyone across the world will be tuning in… I’m not even thinking about Tete at the moment.”
In the lead up to tomorrow’s clash with Filipino Flash Nonito Donaire, Burnett has been sparring with gym-mate Michael Conlan and believes it has played an important role in preparing him for the power and class of the four-weight champion.
Burnett said: “Michael is an amazing talent and he’s two weights bigger than me. He’s stronger than me and he puts that pressure on me which was exactly what I needed for this fight so me working with Michael has been great.
“It’s amazing to have the chance to fight a legend like Nonito and I take a lot of pride in that and also we have the WBC Diamond belt is on the line as well which means a lot to me as well.
“Nonito is a very complete fighter, he is very good at what he does and you would need to be stupid to not know what he brings to the ring.
“I don’t care about the fact he has had to come down to bantamweight, I’m expecting the very best Donaire.”
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that tomorrow night’s show which is headlined by Scotland’s hot-shot Josh Taylor facing unbeaten American Ryan Martin, will be screened free on the WBSS YouTube channel as well as on Facebook.
Belfast Telegraph
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