RICKY BURNS vs OSUMANU AKABA

After two losses in British title fights, Scotland’s Ricky Burns gets another chance to become a champion when he meets Ghana’s Osumanu Akaba for the vacant Commonwealth 130-pound championship at York Hall in east London on Friday.

Burns lost to Alex Arthur and Carl Johanneson in his previous title attempts but he has won his last eight bouts and feels he is much improved.

Akaba is a typically durable and tenacious Ghanaian, a southpaw who is 1-1 in two previous British appearances. He lost narrowly to the stylish Paul Truscott for the Commonwealth title in the featherweight division but then had an excellent win when he soundly outpointed the well-regarded South African Tshifhiwa Munyai, who was previously unbeaten.

In the Munyai fight, Akaba had the size and strength advantage as he was meeting a bantamweight who was moving up in weight. On Friday it is Akaba who is moving up. Having fought as a 122-pounder and then as a featherweight, he is stepping up to junior lightweight against a younger, taller opponent.

Akaba has shown himself to be a good, aggressive fighter. He puts pressure on his opponents and throws lots of punches. A competitive points defeat against Jeffrey Mathebula in South Africa doesn’t look a bad result at all now, not after the way Mathebula outclassed Julio Zarate in his last fight.

However, the quick movement and crisp boxing of Truscott gave Akaba a lot of trouble and he is meeting another boxer, mover type in Burns.

It helps Akaba that he is now acclimated to boxing in Britain, and the win over Munyai was a confidence booster. With his hard-working, hard-fighting style he can have success against Burns, who doesn’t have a lot “on” his punches — just five stoppage wins in 25 bouts. I think that Akaba will be able to get inside at various stages in the fight and go to work with both hands, but Burns should have the advantage on the outside.

This should be a fast-paced, entertaining bout that will be enjoyed by the crowd at York Hall and Sky Sports viewers in Britain.

Pressure can unsettle Burns, who couldn’t keep Arthur or Johanneson at bay, but he is meeting a smaller man in this fight. In his recent fights, though, Burns has been meeting boxers with losing records whereas Akaba is ambitious and coming in as a winning fighter.

I feel that Burns’s boxing skills and size advantage will just about see him home to a close win on points, but I make Akaba a “live” underdog in this interesting fight.